Helix_Episode 1 Page 7

  ‘Your squads don’t matter anymore, you’re in this together,’ the driver said. ‘I’m talking about the entire Fifth Column .’

  Olesya had no idea what she was talking about .

  The driver put her helmet on and flipped the night vision monocular down over one eye. ‘We’ll explain everything to you once you’re out .’

  Olesya noticed headlamps in the distance. The driver took the van off the road, rushing to a stop, then watched through her monocular, waiting for the car to pass .

  The driver looked over her shoulder at Olesya and the other recruits. ‘Effective now, Russia and China are out of Project GATE. That includes all of you .’

  ‘What’s Project GATE?’ Olesya asked .

  ‘The phony scholarship you’re all in,’ the driver said. ‘They didn’t even tell you the name? Jesus .’

  ‘So we’re disqualified?’ Ark asked .

  ‘The project doesn’t matter anymore,’ the driver said with a heavy sigh. ‘You’re out of—look, all you need to know right now is you have two options. Option one: sit tight in Project GATE and see what they do with you. Maybe they hold you hostage. Maybe they brainwash you. Maybe they make you disappear .’

  Olesya’s mouth went dry. ‘You’re kidnapping us ?’

  ‘Option two,’ the driver said. ‘We kidnap you. Take you back to your country of origin .’

  Ark’s hands trembled in the near-darkness. ‘So we have to choose ?’

  ‘We already made that choice for you,’ the driver said. ‘But the door’s right there, if you want to change that .’

  The driver waited for them to open the door. No one did .

  ‘Option two it is then .’

  She drove the van to a narrow road that fed into a forest. Olesya could hear rapid breathing as the other recruits tried to process what was happening .

  ‘This could get rough,’ the driver said. ‘Seatbelts are in the back. I suggest you use them .’

  Olesya found a seatbelt in the darkness and buckled up. ‘Are we the only ones? Are there more ?’

  ‘We have a few vans on the move,’ the driver said .

  ‘What about Xiu?’ Olesya leaned forward, held in by her seatbelt. ‘She was in our squad but you didn’t pick her up !’

  The driver didn’t take her eyes off the road. ‘We’re not picking up a Xiu .’

  Val reached over and put a hand on Olesya’s leg. ‘She’s Chinese-American, Olesya .’

  Olesya felt her hand tremble. ‘But she should be with us, right ?’

  ‘If she’s American then this is where she belongs.’ The driver risked a glance in her direction. The monocular gleamed at her. ‘She’s safer here. But you’re not .’

  Olesya felt her eyes well with tears. In the darkness, only Val would see .

  Val squeezed her hand. ‘I’m sorry .’

  ‘She’ll be OK,’ Ark said. ‘Whatever happens .’

  Olesya imagined not seeing Xiu again and it hurt .

  ‘You were right, you know,’ Ark said. ‘We all should’ve gone over the wall .’

  The driver was right. The exercise didn’t matter anymore .

  ‘Your American accent is good,’ Olesya said. ‘I didn’t know you were Russian .’

  He shrugged. ‘My name’s Arkadiy .’

  She forced a smile, even though he couldn’t see it very well. ‘I thought you were Polish .’

  ‘I know it doesn’t mean much now,’ Ark said, ‘but how many of us got over the wall ?’

  ‘Three,’ Olesya said. ‘Damien, Jay. Me .’

  ‘You did good.’ Ark’s head hung low. ‘I was too scared to notice .’

  ‘You don’t have to be,’ Olesya said .

  ‘I know.’ He nodded. ‘It’s just us now .’

  Light flooded the windows. Tires screeched. Something smashed into the side of the van. They spun wildly. Olesya held onto her seatbelt. The van rolled. Gravity pulled at her. Everyone clung to their seat-belts, bumping and colliding into each other. She shut her eyes. No one thought to scream or yell. They tumbled in silence. Broken glass. Bones. Heart .

  Chapter Eleven

  Today

  Guatemala

  D amien could barely see Nasira’s face in the cold glow of the speedometer, but he knew the fire in her eyes had extinguished hours ago. It was past midnight and she was running on fumes. There were no street lamps on this lonely stretch of Guatemalan road and all Damien could see outside were distant mountains, flat ground, and occasional spots of jungle. Sometimes he wished he had Jay’s pentachromatic vision rather than enhanced hearing .

  ‘How are you holding up?’ Damien asked, swallowing a metallic aftertaste .

  ‘Your new passport’s in the rucksack,’ Nasira said .

  ‘Right.’ He reached down with bandaged hands, plucked the Greek passport from the open zipper and stuffed it in his pocket. ‘You didn’t answer my question .’

  ‘I’m all right.’ She winced. ‘Could be better .’

  Damien cleared his throat. ‘Since when have you and Jay been — ’

  In the darkness, she glared at him .

  ‘—on good terms?’ he said. ‘You used to hate him .’

  Nasira resumed her focus on the road ahead. ‘He grew on me. Unfortunately .’

  ‘We’ll find him,’ Damien said. ‘We’ll get him back .’

  ‘Don’t need your words of reassurance .’

  A passing car illuminated her face. He could see tears on her cheeks. She wiped them quickly .

  ‘Just want the son of a bitch back,’ she said .

  ‘Wherever he is, whatever’s happening to him, he knows you’re out there looking for him. He knows you won’t give up .’

  She shook her head. ‘He doesn’t know that .’

  ‘You’re the reason he has hope .’

  ‘He’s the reason I have hope.’ Nasira swallowed. ‘I know you know who took him. Just spit it out .’

  ‘Facility in Colombia,’ he said. ‘One of those border control officers told me. Right before I killed him .’

  She didn’t look at him. ‘The Fifth Column are holding him there .’

  ‘That’s not logical,’ Damien said. ‘The Fifth Column only control Central America and the United States. They don’t hold much ground in Colombia .’

  Nasira stared ahead. ‘That’s rare these days .’

  ‘If it was the Fifth Column, they’d take him back to the States. Like they were about to do with me .’

  ‘Colombia’s a nice out-of-the-way place to interrogate Jay,’ Nasira said. ‘Give him a lobotomy and throw him in the ocean, Bin Laden style. Or Bin Laden stunt double style, whatever .’

  Damien hoped she was wrong. Rescuing Jay from some sort of shady underworld was one thing. Rescuing him from the Fifth Column was another entirely .

  With one hand, Nasira shoved a cigarette in her mouth and lit it .

  ‘Do you have to smoke?’ he asked .

  ‘Yep,’ she said. ‘You know, there’s one thing he said to me that I’ll never forget .’

  ‘What’s that ?’

  ‘He told me you were his brother .’

  ‘He lost his brother when he was young,’ Damien said .

  Under the whisper of moonlight, he watched the jagged mountains on their left .

  ‘No, I mean he said it for real. That’s how he sees it.’ Nasira sucked on her cigarette, then opened her window a crack. ‘And it made me think. We’re all family now. We’re not programmed zombies running jobs for the Fifth Column anymore. We’re on our own and we’re all we’ve got.’ She breathed sharply. ‘I don’t want to lose that .’

  Damien watched her silhouette. ‘That’s probably the most emotional thing you’ve said in your life .’

  She flicked ash out the window. ‘If you tell anyone, I’ll shoot you .’

  Damien wound his window down a fraction and breathed in the night. ‘You know, there is someone else who can help us .’

  ‘Sophia?’ Nasira laughed
. ‘She’s on the other side of the planet right now. Doing something … more important. I’m not gonna drag her all the way down here just for this .’

  ‘She’d do it in a heartbeat, you know,’ he said. ‘You said it yourself, we’re all we have .’

  ‘I don’t want to be the one calling Sophia every time we screw up,’ she said. ‘We just got to find out who has Jay. Then we get him the hell out. We can tell her after .’

  ‘And if we can’t get him out?’ he asked .

  ‘Then all hands on deck.’ Nasira closed as much distance as she could, but the bus still had an hour on them. They’d tracked it on a northeastern route to the coast, passing a large lake and forest. They needed more time to catch up, but Damien wasn’t sure they had it .

  ‘Puerto Barrios,’ Damien said. ‘That’s where the bus is going .’

  ‘Putting ’em on a ship to Colombia.’ Nasira sounded uncertain. ‘But where in Colombia ?’

  Damien checked her phone. ‘I don’t know, but we’re not too far behind them now .’

  Nasira was already accelerating. They needed to close the gap fast. If they missed their chance to see where in Colombia the two occupants on the bus were transferred, they’d miss their shot at Jay. And Damien wasn’t too keen on going through another processing station again .

  ‘Do you ever wonder what happened to all those Chinese and Russian recruits?’ he asked .

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I already know what happened .’

  ‘Thrown in prison?’ he asked .

  She snorted. ‘The official story is bullshit and you know it. Fifth Column had them put down .’

  ‘I don’t believe that. The Fifth Column put a lot of money into Project GATE. Millions into each of us. They wouldn’t waste that unless they had to .’

  Nasira shrugged. ‘Maybe they used them for testing. Made sure the pseudogenes worked before they activated them in us .’

  ‘What if we aren’t the only ones who escaped ?’

  Nasira drew on her cigarette. ‘The Fifth Column wouldn’t allow them to exist .’

  ‘They don’t allow us to exist either,’ he said .

  ‘Yeah, and it shows.’ She drove in silence a while longer .

  Damien kept an eye out for the bus as Nasira played catch up, but even after an hour he still couldn’t see a thing .

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said .

  ‘What the hell for?’ Nasira discarded her cigarette out the window .

  ‘I should still be on that bus. It was the one thing I had to do .’

  ‘Damien.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Shut up. Not your fault. And we ain’t got time to feel sorry for ourselves .’

  He opened and closed his bandaged hands. The pain was dull. ‘I know, I just … yeah. You’re right .’

  ‘I’m always right,’ she said. ‘Except for the part where Jay got captured .’

  ‘Take your own advice. It’s not your fault .’

  Her fingers tightened over the steering wheel. ‘It is my fault .’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Damien asked .

  ‘We had an argument and I told him to get out of my face. “Get out of my face” wasn’t supposed to mean “Take your passport and get your ass kidnapped by the Fifth Column .”’

  ‘Some argument,’ he said .

  Nasira drove over a bridge, crossing the narrow gap in a lake. For the first time, he could see the bus in the darkness ahead. Its headlamps splashed two cones of light on the asphalt .

  Damien checked her phone. They were only a fraction behind the tracker now .

  ‘Just in time,’ he said. ‘We’re at the port .’

  Nasira slowed down, giving the bus a chance to enter the port .

  ‘We need to watch the transfer,’ she said .

  ‘Assuming it’s a vessel like you said,’ Damien said. ‘How are we going to tag it ?’

  ‘I have one more tracker.’ She stopped the vehicle just outside the port and opened her door. ‘And a waterproof Pelican case with magnets .’

  Damien wasn’t sure if she was joking. ‘You’re going underwater ?’

  ‘Don’t got much choice,’ Nasira said. ‘Someone didn’t stay on the bus like a good boy, did they ?’

  ‘Yeah, well someone got cavity searched .’

  Nasira stifled a laugh as she got out of the car, then leaned in. ‘That’s totally worth the swim .’

  Chapter Twelve

  Six years ago

  Location: Unknown

  O lesya was alone.

  She was lying on a hospital bed, wearing pajamas that weren’t hers. The room was bare and on the other side there was a closed door and a long window with dark glass she couldn’t see through. There were no bunks, no Firebird Squad, no hospital corners. She climbed from her bed. She remembered being inside a van. And then nothing. The grazes on her hands from climbing the concrete wall—they were completely healed. She remembered Xiu’s face .

  How long had she been here? And where was here? Was she committed to some sort of mental asylum in Siberia? The room was heated through a fat, vertical pipe in the corner. She walked over to the door and reached for the handle. It turned freely. She wasn’t locked inside .

  The corridor was long. She walked down it, her feet freezing on the tiled floor. There were more glass windows along the right-hand wall. The rooms beyond them were dark. She could hear noise at the end of the corridor, behind another door. Footsteps, talking, keyboard typing. She reached the end and stepped into an open space buzzing with people and activity. There were desks, monitors, a whole bunch of people standing and sitting, wearing jackets and hoods, carrying papers or pointing at screens. The area smelled of instant coffee and cigarette smoke. She looked from one face to another, recognizing none of them. And one by one, they looked back at her .

  Something was very, very wrong. She had to get out. Next to her, an external door opened and someone stepped in with a gust of cold air. It smelled of the forest, but not of the night .

  Olesya ran .

  Past the figure. Barefoot, into the snow. She heard them calling her name. They knew her, but she didn’t want them to. She kept running, down a hill. She plunged through snow, tripped and rolled. Recovering at the bottom, she got back to her feet and kept going .

  But Firebird Squad wasn’t out here. It was just white .

  Smeared across her face, the snow numbed everything. She could see the forest ahead. Fog lifted from the treetops. She stopped. Her memories came back, falling inside her like icicles .

  Firebird drawing their Glock 19s .

  Xiu leaning over her breakfast tray and raising an eyebrow .

  Gripping her pistol at the range, her palms sweating .

  Clinging to the concrete wall, pushing air from her lungs .

  ‘Keep going.’ Xiu looked up at her and smiled. ‘You’ll find me again .’

  The van rolling. Glass shattering .

  Olesya felt her eyes warm with tears .

  She dropped to her knees. Her nose dripped into the snow. There was no point in wiping it. It was all white around her. It was all nothing. She pressed her hands into the white and let them sink deeper. The cold burned and she focused on it. Her body shivered .

  ‘Olesya?’

  The voice was deep, but not unwelcoming .

  She wanted to ignore the man, but he called her name again. She didn’t say anything, and instead slowed her breathing so she didn’t look so pathetic by the time he circled around her. Failing, she slumped into a cross-legged position, ignoring her bare feet .

  He didn’t seem to mind. He took a knee before her. She didn’t want to look at him but she could see from the edge of her vision that he wore a fur jacket and held a spare over one arm. He handed it to her .

  ‘Your feet must be cold,’ he said in Russian .

  She looked down at her feet, pale and covered in snow. She didn’t care .

  ‘My name is Illarion,’ he said. ‘It’s nice to meet you .’<
br />
  She looked up. Illarion had closely cropped hair and whiskers, a mix of silver and coal. His nose pointed like an arrow toward a scarred chin .

  Olesya took the fur jacket from him .

  ‘You can put the jacket on,’ Illarion said .

  ‘No.’ She put the jacket on .

  ‘How about you come inside and I tell you everything?’ he asked .

  She pulled the hood over her head and wiggled her hands back inside each cuff. She could feel his gaze, patient and calm. ‘No.’ She would stick to English .

  He frowned. ‘You’ll get frostbite if you stay here .’

  ‘Fine, I’ll get frostbite until you tell me .’

  ‘The project you were in wasn’t a scholarship .’

  She looked into his eyes. They were a pale, frosted blue .

  ‘Project GATE,’ she said. ‘I know what it was .’

  ‘You don’t know everything .’

  Her hands clenched into fists. ‘So what … what was it for ?’

  Illarion looked at her. He was a bit older than her father, and the cold didn’t seem to bother him at all. ‘They were training you to become operatives .’

  ‘Not anymore, I guess,’ Olesya said .

  He cleared his throat and looked around. ‘Do you want to know where we are ?’

  ‘I don’t care,’ she said .

  ‘We’re thirty kilometers north of St Petersburg,’ he said .

  ‘I said I don’t care .’

  He smiled. ‘And I don’t care that you don’t care .’

  ‘And I don’t care that you don’t care that …’ She looked away. ‘Shut up .’

  Through the corner of her vision, she watched him shift from crouching to a sitting position .

  ‘I have a question for you,’ he said .

  ‘You already asked me a question .’

  ‘Two questions. What’s the last thing you remember ?’

  She looked away and sighed. ‘I don’t like that question .’

  ‘No, you don’t like the answer .’

  She glared. ‘Fine. Being taken away. By your people .’

  Illarion unlaced his boots and peeled off his thick woolen socks, one after the other .