The woman in black paused. ‘I won’t shoot.’
It worked! It actually worked!
‘You’re going to put that down,’ he said.
‘No, I’m not,’ she replied. ‘I’m going to—’
‘You’re going to put that down,’ Zak tried again, concentrating harder, imagining her obeying him.
This time, the woman in black shifted the weight of the rifle and lowered it with both hands. ‘I’m going to put this down.’ She dropped it into the snow.
Behind her, the other soldiers glanced at one another in confusion.
It’s like a Jedi mind trick! As crazy as it seemed, that’s what it was like. Zak was Obi-Wan, waving his hand and saying, ‘These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.’
No, it’s more like when Rey tells the stormtrooper to remove her restraints and drop the gun. When she’s just beginning to realize what she can do.
Zak tried not to let the mixture of excitement and confusion overwhelm him. Instead, he fixed his mind on what he wanted the woman to do.
‘You’re going to sit on the ground,’ he said.
‘I’m going to sit on the ground.’ The woman in black did exactly as she was told.
‘All of you.’ Zak imagined them all sitting down, and when he spoke the words, they all did exactly as he pictured it. They all sat down, and he turned to see Mum and Dad and May coming out of Storage, followed by Dima and all the others from Outpost Zero. Even Sofia was on her feet, flanked by her mama and papa.
‘You’re OK.’ Zak couldn’t hide his relief.
‘Zak?’ May asked as she ran over to him. ‘What’s going on? What happened?’
‘I’m not completely sure.’ He was overwhelmed to see them all, but didn’t dare break his concentration. ‘But I don’t know how long this is going to last.’
‘How long what’s going to last?’ May asked, but Mum and Dad were close on her heels, trying to wrap their arms around Zak as soon as they reached him.
He pushed them away and spoke to Dima. ‘Can you fly that thing?’
Dima cast his eyes over the Osprey. ‘Where did it come from? What happened to my plane?’
‘Can you fly it?’ Zak asked again.
Dima shrugged. ‘I can fly anything.’
‘Good. Get in and wait for me. All of you.’
‘What on earth is going on?’ Mum said. ‘We’re—’
‘Just get in the plane. Please. All of you.’
Mum’s face dropped and she blinked once. ‘Of course, sweetheart, whatever you say.’
Zak didn’t watch as the group made their way to the Osprey and climbed on board; he kept his eyes on the woman in black. ‘You,’ he said. ‘Take off your helmet.’
She placed her hands on either side of the helmet and lifted it from her head. She placed it carefully on the ice beside her and stared at Zak.
She was blonde, with short hair, and an average face. She had no distinguishing features and nothing about her appearance was remarkable. She certainly didn’t look like a monster. Didn’t look extraordinary in any way. She was the kind of person Zak would pass on the street and not take any notice of at all.
‘Where did you come from?’ Zak asked her.
‘November Island. Indian Ocean.’
‘Why?’
‘To secure the base, secure whatever is under the ice, eliminate everyone, await further instruction.’
‘Eliminate everyone?’
‘Yes. No loose ends.’
Zak took a deep breath. ‘Who sent you?’
‘Phoenix.’
‘What’s Phoenix?’
‘I don’t know. I receive a message and that’s it.’
Zak didn’t want to hear any more. He wanted to get out of there, to get as far away as possible from these people and from Outpost Zero. ‘Do you have some way to communicate with wherever you came from?’
‘Yes.’
‘OK.’ He thought about what to tell her. ‘Right. When we’ve gone, I want you and your men to wait five minutes,’ he said. ‘Actually, make that ten minutes… then you can go to Storage. It should be warm enough for you in there. Huddle together or something. I want you to wait ten hours before you tell anyone you’re here, do you understand?’
‘I understand.’
‘Good.’ Zak stepped back, wondering if he would still have control when he moved away from her. How did this work? Was there a limit? How long would it last? He had a million questions, but now wasn’t the time to think about them. He had to concentrate. Keep everyone safe.
‘One other thing,’ he said.
‘Yes?’
Zak raised his voice to all the soldiers. ‘When you leave here, you will all forget us. You’ll forget this place. You’ll forget everything that happened. You’ve never been here, do you understand?’
They replied as one. ‘Yes. We understand.’
‘Good.’ Zak walked backwards a few paces, and turned around, cringing, waiting for a sudden shout, an attack or… but nothing happened.
As Zak climbed on board the Osprey, he looked back to see the woman in black still sitting on the ice with the rest of her surviving soldiers.
‘What’s going on?’ Dima asked as he closed the door behind them.
‘I’ll explain it all later,’ Zak said. ‘For now, just get us out of here.’
‘As you wish.’ Dima secured the door and went straight to the cockpit to begin preparations for take-off.
Inside, the Osprey was packed full with the people from Outpost Zero. Stunned and confused, they were talking among themselves, trying to remember what had happened to them. Zak pushed past them and went to his mum and dad. He threw his arms around them and hugged them tight.
‘What happened?’ Dad asked. ‘Are you all right? What’s—’
‘I’m fine,’ Zak said. ‘Actually, no, I’m better than fine.’ He put a hand to the side of his head. ‘I’m perfect.’
Then he turned to his sister. ‘Let’s go home.’
37
JANUARY ISLAND, SOUTH CHINA SEA
NOW
Inside his War Room, The Broker was struggling to stay calm.
The updated thermal satellite images showed no sign of anything remaining below the ice. Whatever those things were, they were now gone, along with most of Outpost Zero. The only remaining heat signatures came from the Storage building, the burning wreckage on the airstrip, and the remaining Osprey.
The loss of the aircraft was like pure acid in The Broker’s stomach. A dense core of white-hot anger. But it wasn’t the worst thing that had happened today.
There was something much worse than losing a couple of Ospreys: failure. More than anything, he hated failure.
The Broker tightened his hands into fists. His manicured fingernails dug into his palms and his knuckles turned white. He lowered his head and glared at the screens in front of him.
Some of the feeds coming in from the battle helmets worn by Lazarovich’s team were dead. The screens hissed and displayed a snowstorm of nothing. These were the pilot and the operatives who had died when the base fell into the darkness of the ice. They did not concern The Broker. He was more interested in the other feeds. In particular, he was watching the feed coming in from an operative identified as ‘Lewis’, because Lewis had a clear view of the remaining team.
In Lewis’s feed, The Broker could see the others on their knees in the snow. None of them was armed. None of them moved. None of them even turned their head; they simply knelt and stared at the Storage building.
The Broker tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Of what he had seen.
When Phoenix had first contacted him with the images of Outpost Zero, The Broker had expected something big. He had imagined vast pools of minerals that could be mined and sold. He imagined an archaeological discovery that would be worth millions. He imagined a new and powerful energy source. But what he had seen erupt from the ground beneath Outpost Zero was more strange and unusual than any of those things, and it had slipped out of his grasp.