“Foaly will figure it out,” said Root. “He beat you before.”
Opal remote-tightened the octo-bonds, forcing the commander to his knees. “Maybe he would figure it out at that. If he had time. But unfortunately for you, time is almost up.”
On Root’s chest, a digital readout flickered to life. There were two numbers on the readout. A six and a zero. Sixty seconds.
“One minute to live, Commander. How does that feel?”
The numbers began ticking down.
The ticking and the beeping and Opal’s snide sniggers drilled into Holly’s brain. “Shut it down, Koboi. Shut it down, or I swear I’ll . . .”
Opal’s laughter was unrestrained. It echoed through the access tunnel like the attack screech of a harpy.
“You will what? Exactly. Die beside your commander?”
More cracks. More ribs broken. The blue sparks of magic circled Root’s torso like stars caught in a whirlwind.
“Go now,” he grunted. “Holly. I am ordering you to leave.”
“With respect, Commander. No. This isn’t over yet.”
“Forty-eight,” said Opal in a happy singsong voice. “Forty-seven.”
“Holly! Go!”
“I’d listen if I were you,” said Koboi. “There are other lives at stake. Root is already dead; why not save someone who can be saved?”
Holly moaned. Another element in an already overloaded equation.
“Who can I save? Who’s in danger?”
“Oh, no one important. Just a couple of Mud Men.”
Of course, thought Holly: Artemis and Butler. Two others who had put a stop to Koboi’s plan.
“What have you done, Opal?” said Holly, shouting above the proximity trigger and core wind.
Koboi’s lip drooped, mimicking a guilty child. “I’m afraid I may have put your human friends in danger. At this very moment they are stealing a package from the International Bank in Munich. A little package I prepared for them. If Master Fowl is as clever as he is supposed to be, he won’t open the package until he reaches the Kronski Hotel and can check for booby traps. Then a biobomb will be activated, and bye-bye obnoxious humans. You can stay here and explain all this; I’m sure it won’t take more than a few hours to sort out with Internal Affairs. Or you can try to rescue your friends.”
Holly’s head reeled. The commander, Artemis, Butler. All about to die. How could she save them? There was no way to win.
“I will hunt you down, Koboi. For you, there won’t be a safe inch on the planet.”
“Such venom. What if I gave you a way out? One chance to win.”
Root was on his knees now, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. The blue sparks were gone; he was out of magic.
“It’s a trap,” he gasped, every syllable making him wince. “Don’t be fooled again.”
“Thirty,” said Koboi. “Twenty-nine.”
Holly felt her forehead throb against the helmet pads. “Okay. Okay, Koboi. Tell me quickly. How do I save the commander?”
Opal took a deep theatrical breath. “On the device. There’s a sweet spot. One inch diameter. The red dot below the screen. If you hit that spot from outside the trigger area, then you overload the circuit. If you miss, even by a hair, you set off the explosive gel. It’s a sporting chance; more than you gave me, Holly Short.”
Holly gritted her teeth. “You’re lying. Why would you give me a chance?”
“Don’t take the shot,” said Root, strangely calm. “Just get out of range. Go and save Artemis. That’s the last order I’ll ever give you, Captain. Don’t you dare ignore it.”
Holly felt as though her senses were being filtered through three feet of water. Everything was blurred and slowed down.
“I don’t have any choice, Julius.”
Root frowned. “Don’t call me Julius! You always do that just before you disobey me. Save Artemis, Holly. Save him.”
Holly closed one eye and aimed her pistol. The laser sights were no good for this kind of accuracy. She would have to do it manually.
“I’ll save Artemis next,” she said. Holly took a deep breath, held it, and squeezed the trigger.
Holly hit the red spot. She was certain of it. The charge sank into the device, spreading across the metal face like a tiny bushfire.
“I hit it,” she shouted at Opal’s image. “I hit the spot.”
Koboi shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought you were a fraction low. Hard luck. I mean that sincerely.”
“No!” screamed Holly.
The countdown on Root’s chest ticked faster than before, flickering through the numbers. There were mere moments left now.
The commander struggled to his feet, raising the visor on his helmet. His eyes were steady and fearless. He smiled gently at Holly. A smile that laid no blame. For once there wasn’t even a touch of feverish temper in his cheeks.
“Be well,” he said, and then an orange flame blossomed in the center of his chest.
The explosion sucked the air from the tunnel, feeding on the oxygen. Multicolored flames roiled like the plumage of battling birds. Holly was shunted backward by a wall of shock waves, the force impacting every surface facing the commander. Microfilaments blew in her suit as they were overloaded with heat and force. The camera cylinder on her helmet popped right out of its groove, spinning into E37.
Holly herself was borne bodily into the chute, spinning like a twig in a cyclone. Sonix sponges in her earpieces sealed automatically as the sound of the explosion caught up with the blast. The commander had disappeared inside a ball of flame. He was gone, there was no doubt about it. Even magic could not help him now. Some things are beyond fixing.
The contents of the access tunnel, including Root and Scalene, disintegrated into a cloud of shrapnel and dust, particles ricocheting off the tunnel walls. The cloud surged down the path of least resistance, which was of course directly after Holly. She barely had time to activate her wings and climb a few meters, before flying shrapnel drilled a hole in the chute wall below her.
Holly hovered in the vast tunnel, the sound of her own breathing filling the helmet. The commander was dead. It was unbelievable. Just like that, at the whim of a vengeful pixie. Had there been a sweet spot on the device? Or had she actually missed the target? She would probably never know. But to the LEP observers, it would seem as though she had shot her own commander.
Holly glanced downward. Below her, fragments from the explosion were spiraling toward the earth’s core. As they neared the revolving magma sphere, the heat ignited each one, utterly cremating all that was left of Julius Root. For the briefest moment the particles twinkled gold and bronze, like a million stars falling to earth.
Holly hung there for several minutes, trying to absorb what had happened. She couldn’t. It was too awful. Instead she froze the pain and guilt, preserving it for later. Right now, she had an order to follow. And she would follow it, even if it was the last thing she ever did, because it had been the last order Julius Root ever gave.
Holly increased the power to her wings, rising through the massive charred chute. There were Mud Men to be saved.
CHAPTER 4
NARROW ESCAPES
Munich