James Axler – Shadow World

Something behind the armored figures caught Krysty’s attention, a vague shimmering in the middle of the street, like heat waves, rippling, only it couldn’t have beenthe sun was barely up. Then the shimmer began to rotate, and she saw me glittering motes within, spinning faster and faster.

Chapter Thirty

After daybreak Ryan got a good look at his surroundings. This Earth needed the night to make it seem less hideous. By day, he could see that the roofs of most of the skyscrapers and high tower blocks were splintered and caved in. The top stories, visible above the canopy of skyline, were cadaverous wrecks. Windows were broken out, and scorch marks from ancient fires blackened the outer walls.

And the megalopolis didn’t reach to the horizon in all directions. When Ryan moved to a far corner of the roof, he got a glimpse of what lay on the far side of the nuclear cooling towers strip-mine terraces for as far as the eye could see; huge rusting skeletons of extraction machinery; monster wags designed to haul hundreds of tons of rock lay overturned and abandoned. Nothing was green. The only colors were the red of the dirt and the gray of the concrete.

As they prepared to leave the rooftop, Damm asked the warlord, “What’s the plan after we get in the complex?”

“Since the captain knows the place so well, I was hoping she’d have some suggestions.”

“Yeah, I do,” Nara said. “We should forget about trying to make a deal with the CEOs and head straight for the passageway to Shadow World. Fight our way in if we have to. Based on the firepower FIVE’s been throwing at us, I don’t think Ryan’s much of a bargaining chip anymore. They might have already written him off. Once we’re inside the chamber, we’ve got a lot more options to work with. If FIVE won’t trade for Ryan, it’s going to want to keep its equipment in tiptop shape. We can barricade ourselves in, do a little minor damage to show we mean business, then bargain for a trip out of here.”

“Puts us on the offensive,” Thrill Bill said. “I like it.”

“It might even work,” Damm agreed.

When Thrill Bill started to lead them from rooftop to rooftop, Ryan realized he’d been right about waiting until dawn. There were sec devices on every roof. The warlord knew how to outfox them, though. Another reason not to try the move at night was that some of the crossings were on ledges no wider than a handspan. They followed a complicated route, dictated by the irregularity of the buildings’ shapes and the differences in their heights. They had to climb down before they could go up, and vice versa.

After they’d been moving awhile, Ryan caught the now-familiar sound of rotor-driven aircraft approaching. Thrill Bill waved for them to take cover behind an upraised ledge. A squadron of black airships passed overhead, moving the same direction they were.

“Those were FIVE’s assault gyros,” Nara said. “Probably reinforcing the Totality complex.”

“I never promised this was going to be easy,” Thrill Bill said.

Ten minutes later, soaked with sweat, Ryan peered over a roof ledge that overlooked their destination. Three of the black ships had landed on the enormous, flat roof below and men in armor stood around a little outhouselike hut in the middle of the space. Beyond them were rows of raised skylights.

“That hut is one way in,” Thrill Bill said.

“I hope you’ve got a second choice,” Damm told him.

“Yeah, but there’s a problem. If we don’t take care of those guys now, we’re going to have to face them later, once we’re inside. I hadn’t planned on going in quiet. When we make our big entrance, the noise is going to make them come running.”

“No way can we kill all those troopers down there,” Nara said. “If we try, we’ll never get in the building. We have to use surprise and speed. Break in no matter how much noise it makes.”

“Yeah,” Ryan said, “and let them take us out if they can.”

They circled and came around the structure from the far side, hopping down from an adjoining building. That roof was much bigger than the one on the HBK tower. Ryan couldn’t see the aircraft or any of the black-armored men.