Another government announcement reached her ears, but she didn’t recognize the words and found herself unable to stand up and look out the window to try and figure out what was going on. She had a feeling that if the terrorists got provoked again, her building would be next to go. The smell of burning and dust were so pungent that her eyes watered constantly and she started coughing.
Daniel was in his hotel room in LA putting together a technical spec for one of the venues in China. Now they decide to buy the whole lot of new gear, he thought. Three weeks before the concert, when they could have done it three months ago like I suggested.
It wasn’t the only venue that decided to upgrade following Carpe Diem tour’s smashing kickoff and the publicity that came with it. Him and Frankie installed $2m worth of new sound systems in the last week alone.
‘Daniel!’ he heard Frankie’s voice out in the hall. Next thing the door burst open and Frankie barged in with horrified expression on his face.
‘What’s up, buddy, you look like you just saw a ghost!’
‘It’s worse,’ he panted out and collapsed on the bed. ‘Put the news on.’
A thousand wild scenarios flashed through Daniel’s head by the time he managed to bring up news on his idatron. Something happened to the band, he thought, one or more of the guys got injured or worse… God, please don’t let it be what I think.
‘Which channel?’ he asked, feeling his heart in his throat.
‘Doesn’t matter. It’s all over the news.’
The first thing his senses registered were screaming sirens and wild flashes of light beaming from dozens of hovermobiles. Then he recognized Manhattan. Then he started hearing what the newsman was saying.
‘… our worst fears are becoming a reality in front of our very eyes. America hasn’t experienced a hostile terrorist attack for decades, but this time it’s not just an attack on America. It’s an attack on the entire Immortal world, an unprecedented attempt to steal the formula and stocks of the Cure.’
‘The scale and organization of this attack is horrifying. It is believed that over twenty heavily armed hoverjets are surrounding Dr. Life’s Immortality Institute HQ in the center of Manhattan and patrolling the island, but no information can be confirmed as the hover traffic control system is down. It’s unclear if it’s been disabled by the terrorists or by the authorities. The Pentagon has not issued a statement as yet.’
As he watched and listened in horror, Daniel could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise and a cold shiver run through his body. Is this really happening? Everybody knew terrorists existed and their number one goal was to obtain access to the Cure, but the measures taken to protect it were so great, that no one believed there was any real danger.
Not to mention that many believed that the Cure and its formula weren’t even stored in the Institute, but in a secret location known only to a handful of people.
They both watched the reports, unable to say a word, hypnotized by the sheer scale of the attack.
‘It seems that the Pentagon has finally pulled the troops together, and decided to respond to the terrorists,’ the reporter’s voice rang with panic despite his reasonably safe distance from Ground Zero. ‘Yes, our boys are definitely on their way, we can see at least three dozen of them heading in this direction.’
In the next moment the camera showed Air Force hoverjets form a double ring around the terrorist’s vehicles. Then more and more arrived, closing in tightly.
I’m not sure they know what they’re doing, Daniel thought, listening to the surrender ultimatum presented to the terrorists. These guys look like they came prepared. They won’t just surrender, they will pull something out of their sleeve.
What happened next confirmed his suspicions.
‘Back off! If you don’t clear off in sixty seconds, you can say goodbye to the Swiss Bank building. The countdown has already started.’
‘Oh, shit,’ Frankie managed to utter. ‘They… sound like they mean it.’
They exchanged horrified looks, then watched the Swiss Bank building get blown up and collapse. The cloud of smoke that rose from the ground grew bigger and bigger, sucking in ash and debris from the ruined skyscraper.
‘Holy shit! Whoa… How…?’ Frankie lost the ability to form sentences. ‘What the… Jesus, what are they… this is nuts…’
‘You have been warned!’ it resounded. ‘Every building on this island is planted with enough explosives to flatten it to the ground. If you attempt to attack us, we will fire them all at once. Now clear off or we’ll start another countdown.’
‘Our office…’ Frankie whispered. ‘Do you think it’s safe?’
‘I don’t know…’ Daniel couldn’t think, it felt like his skull contained nothing but shaking jelly.
Then one clear, horrendous thought pierced through his brain so violently it was actually painful.
Amari is still in her office.
‘Where are you going? Daniel! Stop! What the hell…? Daniel!!!’
Amaranthine sat on the floor next to the jammed fire exit, with her arms around her pulled-up legs. She squeezed her chin to her knees, trying to fight down the trembling, but it was beyond her control. The hopelessness of the situation overwhelmed all her senses. The fact that there was not a single thing she could do was debilitating; at least if she could fight, or run, take her chance, it would be easier, there would be hope, and she could focus on that rather than passively wait to be killed. She felt like an animal led to the slaughter house, only her situation was so much worse because she was fully aware of her fate. Her mind, used to being in full control of any situation, kept looking for a solution, for the tiniest crack in the terrorists’ plan that would allow her to make an escape.
She had no idea how long she’d been sitting like this, tortured over and over again by the prospect of being blown up. It could be minutes or hours, she’d completely lost track of time. There wasn’t much action outside now; all she could hear were the engines of the terrorists’ hoverjets and another announcement played over and over again. In the distance, there was a sound of drilling. Clearly it was taking the terrorists some time to get to the vaults and the Pentagon hadn’t figured out yet how to deal with the situation; maybe they were planning to let the attackers get what they wanted and take them down as soon as they were a safe distance from New York. She was sure, however, that Manhattan would still get blown up if the terrorists saw so much as a single American Air Force hoverjet approaching them during their escape. And even if no one followed them, they would probably flatten Manhattan anyway.
She almost wished it was already over, hoping she’d die quickly. The vision of being injured and trapped under hundreds of tons of steel and concrete debris, dying slowly in agony for hours or even days, horrified her more than death itself.
Maybe I should just finish it myself now, before it’s too late, she thought. Once they blow up my building, it may be out of my hands.
She clung onto this new thought as the only one that allowed her to take some action, even if it was to take her own life.
She wished she’d brought a piece of glass from the broken window in her office, it would be perfect for her purpose. But she hadn’t, and now she was far too disoriented to find her way back. Following the signs to the emergency exit, she didn’t pay attention to where they led her. She was in an unfamiliar part of the building, and trying to figure out her way back would take too long.
One of these offices must contain something sharp, something that would cut my veins effectively. I’ll just pass out from the loss of blood. It’ll be just like falling asleep. It won’t even hurt much, my arms will just go numb.
She crawled towards the nearest door. It was shut. So was the next one, and the next. Damn it, one of these offices must be open. I have to find something sharp.
After checking a dozen doors along the corridor she finally got lucky.
It was a big, open-plan office with a few dozen desks. She stood up and scan
ned the nearest ones, in search of a suitable tool, but most of them were empty. She hunched down and moved along the first aisle on the left. The headlights of the black hovercars outside still scanned the area, every few seconds a beam of light coming through the window blinded her. She heard another message, or maybe the same one again, being played through the megaphone.
None of the desks on the left side had anything on them that she could use. She went back to the starting point and took the first aisle on the right, staying in the shadow, and as far away from the windows as possible.
One of the terrorist vehicles came right up to the window of the office. She threw herself to the ground and lay motionless, hardly breathing.
The light went away. And then she saw it.
Under the desk, in the far corner, lay a glass tumbler.
She grabbed it and backed out of the room on her knees, closing the door behind her.
Not knowing why, she went back to the fire door. She jerked the handle again in the last, desperate hope that it would swing open and let her out.
The jammed door remained indifferent again.
She sat down in the same spot as before and smashed the glass against the corner of the wall. She picked a shard and ran the sharp edge against her thumb; it left behind a trail of blood.
She looked at her wrists. The network of veins showed just under the thin skin.
I have to cut deep, she thought, otherwise it will take too long, there could even be a chance that the wound would clot. Or my survival instinct will kick in and force me to stop it. I have to cut deep enough the first time so that it’s unstoppable.
She grabbed the glass firmly and rested it on her left wrist. She could feel the hard, cool surface lean against her skin, she became aware of the blood flowing in her suddenly swollen veins. Be brave now, she thought. One firm move and it’ll all be over. You’ll just fall asleep.
She took a deep breath and squeezed the glass harder in her hand, making sure it wouldn’t slip. She closed her eyes.
‘Amari!’ she heard a distant voice.
I’m being delirious, she thought. My brain is desperately trying to convince itself that rescue is coming, that it’s still possible. Or maybe it’s a voice from the other side already? That would mean the other side actually exists… I’d better hurry…
‘Amari!’ she heard again, a little closer. ‘Where are you?’
‘I’m here…’ she whispered inaudibly. ‘I’m coming, I’ll be there very soon…’
The sharp coolness on her wrist was the only real thing at the moment. She focused on it.
‘Amari!’ the same voice again jerked her out of her concentration, not allowing her to do what she intended. It was a man, getting closer. His voice sounded vaguely familiar, but somehow did not belong to the other side. How can a live person call me from the dead side, she thought, surprised by the clarity of her thoughts. And why is he sounding so urgent? I thought everyone on the other side was supposed to be calm and relaxed…
‘Amari, are you here?’ She put the glass down, completely distracted now by the screaming man. She could finally locate where the voice was coming from – the same corridor where she found the offices and the tumbler. She put her shard away, rubbed her face and shook her head, trying to get back to reality. Is it possible? Could someone really be coming to get me?
Feeling a surge of hope, she took a deep breath, summoned all her energy and cried back.
‘I’m here! By the fire door!’
‘Amari!’ the desperation in the voice was replaced with relief. She heard his rushed steps.
A second later the man emerged from around the corner and fell to his knees right by her side, grabbing her face into his hands.
‘Daniel!’ she couldn’t believe her senses.
‘Amari! Are you ok?’ he touched her shoulders, her arms, checked the cuts on her legs. ‘Are you injured? Can you walk?’
‘How… did… you… find me?’ she uttered with every effort, still not believing he was real and not just a figment of her imagination. ‘How did you get here?’
‘I flew in from LA as soon as I found out about the attack,’ he said, looking at her with wide-open eyes, still making sure she wasn’t hurt. ‘I’ll tell you later. Come on, we have to get out of here, this building might get blown up any minute.’
He helped her to her feet and grabbed her hand. ‘Come on, Amari, I need you to focus. This will be over in a few minutes, but we have to run, ok?’
‘Ok,’ she pulled herself together, resisting the trembling of her legs, which felt like they’d turned into cotton wool. His strong grip provided support and gave her hope. She felt new energy radiate from his warm hand to hers and spread all over her body.
‘Let’s go.’
They walked fast along the corridor, then turned right and rushed along another, wider one. She vaguely remembered coming this way in search of the fire exit. It seemed like he was leading her back to her office, but she couldn’t be sure.
In a few minutes they covered quite a distance along a maze of corridors and passed dozens of office doors. Amaranthine felt nauseas and was short of breath, but Daniel’s hand didn’t let her slow down or stop, pulling her and giving her confidence at the same time. There came a moment, though, when she started feeling faint and was sure she would soon pass out. Fortunately, they reached their destination and Daniel stopped outside a door. She recognized Nectar’s office.
Daniel turned to her and took her face into his hands again.
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked with concern.
‘A bit faint, but I’ll be fine,’ she replied. ‘How are we going to get out of here?’
‘My hovercar is inside,’ he explained. ‘I flew into this office through the window, the blasts smashed most windows in this building. I wasn’t spotted and hopefully they haven’t noticed my hovercar yet. They don’t sweep this side of the building as often and as carefully as the front. But we must be quick and careful. If they see us trying to leave this building, they’ll shoot us down.’
She just nodded, unable to speak.
‘When we get inside the office,’ Daniel continued, ‘the passenger’s door is going to be on your left. I want you to get in and fasten your seatbelt. We’ll have to back out of the building, then we’ll try to get down to the ground and away from here without being noticed. If they do notice us, though, we’ll just have to make a dash for it and try to avoid gunshots, so we might be flying quite chaotically.’
Amaranthine nodded again, completely petrified. He pulled her face up a little and looked into her eyes.
‘I know how you feel about manual steering,’ he said. ‘But we have no choice, the whole traffic control system is down.’
He saw her terrified expression. ‘I’m going to get you out of here safely,’ he said with a voice that inspired hope and security. ‘I need you to trust me.’
She took a deep breath.
‘I trust you,’ she said, suddenly calm and composed. ‘More than anyone. Let’s do it.’
He opened the office door very slowly and carefully looked in. Then he quickly opened it wide and pulled her inside, pointing to the left. She saw his hovermobile in the middle of the office, the window and Nectar’s desk smashed to pieces. The hatch opened for her and she got in, fastening the seatbelt. Daniel looked out the hole in the wall, but a few moments later he was beside her in the pilot’s seat.
‘We’re clear at the moment,’ he said, ‘but it won’t stay that way for long.’
He started the engines and released the joystick. He glanced at the control panel and pulled the joystick towards him.
The hovercar rose into the air, levitating between the floor and the ceiling in darkness; Daniel kept the headlights switched off. Slowly and carefully, he backed out of the room into the hostile territory outside.
The area was clear of terrorists – but they could hear the humming of their engines right around the corner, they could see the beams of their h
eadlights coming from behind the building. As soon as they were outside, Daniel started gliding down, still slowly, and under control. They passed dozens of floors of her skyscraper, and for the first time ever Amari cursed the fact that her office was on the very top.
They reached the bottom of the building unspotted. No sooner had they touched down, though, that they saw three hostile hovercars, high above their heads, patrolling the wall along which they’d just slipped down.
They waited until the unit moved away; as soon as it turned the corner, Daniel raised the vehicle just a few feet off the ground, and slowly hovered away.
‘We’ll try to inch our way out,’ he explained. ‘They don’t expect many civilian hovermobiles to still be operating after they disabled the control system, and hopefully aren’t too observant to notice that we’ve moved. We mustn’t be spotted in motion, though, they could take us for some sort of spy vehicle, trying to sneak around to gather intelligence.’
It struck her how well he was able to judge the situation and predict the terrorists’ moves and intentions. Then she apprehended that he’d already done this journey once, on the way in, when he came to get her. It was dawning on her how huge a risk he undertook to come to her rescue, not even knowing for sure if she was still in her office. He could have died – he could still die – but he didn’t hesitate. She couldn’t even begin to imagine why he’d do that.
But now wasn’t the time for figuring out his motivation; they were still in grave danger and any lapse in concentration could cost them their lives. Now that the chance of getting out of there alive got bigger, Amaranthine felt overwhelming fear of death again. She’d given up on her life a few minutes ago, when her fate was doomed, but now she desperately wanted to live, to have a chance to ask him all the questions that were swirling in her head. And above all – she wanted to be close to him.
Daniel kept moving away from the epicenter of the attack in baby steps, from building to building, corner to corner, extremely cautious not to be spotted. He kept stopping to make sure they were clear to move forward; thanks to that, they avoided a few terrorist patrols. She admired his nerve; his ability to stay so controlled. If it was her, she’d probably just cut and run, hoping that the attackers wouldn’t chase after her or be able to catch up. But he somehow managed to stay calm and execute his plan in every detail. His face was tense and focused, big drops of sweat covered his forehead and temples from the effort.