Absolute Power (The New Heroes, Book 3) Page 8

  Yvonne said, “It would be a lot easier if I just used my mind-control power on him.”

  “Colin’s powers have shifted before. For all we know, he might have developed an immunity to your control.”

  “There’s no logical reason for that assumption, Victor.”

  “Logic has nothing to do with it. If Colin even suspects that you’re working with me, we are finished. Eventually, when he’s been prepared, I’ll start the process of getting him to sympathise with your situation.”

  “And in the meantime I just sit here and wait, is that it?”

  “Pretty much. I know you don’t like it, but trust me. It’ll be worth it.” Victor got to his feet. “Right. It’s time for Reginald Kinsella to make another broadcast. The Sakkarans have had more than enough time to come up with a good reason for destroying our supplies on Isla del Tonatiuh.”

  “This is like throwing stones at a wasp hive just to see what’ll happen.”

  “Nest,” Victor corrected. “Wasps have nests. Bees have hives.”

  “And both of them have stingers, Victor. Don’t forget that.”

  Warren Wagner pressed his palm against the DNA scanner on the door to Sakkara’s interrogation room. After a moment’s pause, the door hissed open.

  Inside, two guards stood against one wall, carefully watching Impervia and the old woman. Mrs Duval sat straight in her chair, staring directly ahead.

  Impervia stood up, the legs of her chair scraping on the floor. “Warren…She’s finally agreed to talk, but only to you.”

  “All right.” Warren sat down in the chair, and looked at the old woman. “I’m told you know who I am?”

  “Only you,” the woman said. “No one else.”

  Warren nodded, then glanced at Impervia and the others. “Leave. All of you.”

  “She knows things that are not for your ears. She can’t be left unguarded,” Impervia said. “General’s orders.”

  “The general can go to hell,” Warren said. “Everyone out. Now. I know you’ll be listening in, so if anything is said that you don’t want me to hear, you can interrupt.”

  Impervia hesitated for a moment, then she and the guards left the room and sealed the door behind them.

  Warren turned back to Mrs Duval.

  “Yes, I know who you are,” she said. “I’m old, but I’m not senile. You’re the man who killed my son. You’re Titan.”

  “Ragnarök died at his own hand,” Warren said. “I didn’t want it to happen.”

  Mrs Duval pursed her lips, the lines around her mouth deepening. “I’m not proud of what he became. Casey chose the way he lived, and now you tell me that he also chose the way he died.”

  “That’s right.”

  Mrs Duval lifted her cuffed hands from her lap and placed them palm-up on the desk. “Look at my hands.”

  Warren looked; the old woman’s hands were covered in calluses and faded scars. “What happened?”

  “Thirteen years ago the authorities found out Ragnarök’s real name. They couldn’t find him, so they found me. Mr Wagner, are you familiar with the Good Book? Deuteronomy 24:16. ‘The fathers shall not be put to death for the children’.”

  “I’m familiar with that one, all right.”

  “I’m imprisoned because of my son’s actions.”

  “Officially, you’re not imprisoned. You’re under investigation.”

  Mrs Duval laughed harshly. “Then perhaps you can tell me why I spent the last thirteen years—”

  A siren blared through the room, quickly followed by Impervia’s voice. “That is a forbidden topic!”

  “All right,” Warren said, “Mrs Duval, why did you choose to speak to me of all people? And why wait this long?”

  “Because even though you are responsible for my son’s death, I believe that you are a good man. And you’ve also lost your son. But you may get him back one day. That’s not something I can ever hope for.”

  Warren sat back. “That doesn’t answer my question. I’m willing to wait as long as it takes for a real answer.” He pulled out a small notepad and pen from his pocket and quickly scribbled a note: “They’re listening, but not watching.” He passed the pad and pen to the old woman.

  She nodded and began to write. After a moment, she slid the pad back across the desk.

  Warren glanced at the note and frowned. Mrs Duval had written, “Do you know what is happening in Lieberstan?”

  Colin Wagner still wasn’t exactly sure what Reginald Kinsella expected of him.

  He opened the door to the balcony and stepped out. On the nearby rolling hills he could see large pieces of equipment.

  He concentrated his superhuman eyesight on the equipment, forcing them to come into focus. Colin didn’t know much about weapons, but they looked like antiaircraft guns to him.

  Something went “beep-beep” behind him and Colin turned to see that the television set had come to life by itself. Reginald Kinsella was on screen, standing in front of a podium.

  “My fellow Trutopians,” Kinsella began. “Yesterday in southern California a bus crashed off the highway and plummeted down a ravine. Because of the difficulty in securing the bus, it took the rescue workers almost eight hours to recover the bodies of the dead and injured.”

  Kinsella paused and wet his lips. “Where were the New Heroes? With the resources they have at their disposal, they could have reached the site of the accident a lot sooner than the rescue team. Diamond could have used her strength to secure the bus, while Quantum’s son and the boy with the force-field power could have freed the trapped passengers. But because they were not there, two people died needlessly.”

  Still staring at the screen, Colin dropped into the leather armchair.

  “Last October, just before Mystery Day, Maxwell Dalton appeared on television for the first time in years. He said that the age of the superhumans was over. He was wrong: It seems that the age of the superheroes is over. Shortly after that, Dalton himself was injured in a mysterious accident, and later indicted for tax evasion. He was supposedly incarcerated in a high-security prison somewhere on the east coast. Today, my people have uncovered the truth. Max Dalton is not in prison. He’s in Sakkara, a convicted criminal working with the New Heroes.

  “The man running Sakkara – General Scott Piers – appears to be immune from the laws of the nation he’s supposed to be protecting.”

  Kinsella sighed, and shook his head slowly. “But it’s clear that the New Heroes are not protecting the people. They’re being used to attack and destroy facilities run by our organisation. They are doing this because we are a threat to their way of existence. You can check out all the facts and figures on our website: the ordinary Trutopian working person – no matter where in the world he or she lives – has a higher standard of living, health and education than anyone in any single country. Crime rates are so low as to be non-existent. In fact, in the past month only one crime has been committed by a Trutopian: a young man in New Zealand who was driving while drunk. He was fined appropriately, and banned for ten years. Not banned from driving, because he needs to be able to drive to and from his place of work. We have taken the more logical approach of banning him from drinking.”

  Colin laughed. “Now that makes a lot more sense!”

  Kinsella continued. “For all the non-Trutopians out there watching this, that’s a good example of how this organisation works. And it works well. There are now almost twenty million Trutopians, all living without poverty, without fear, without restrictions on their freedom, politics, or religion, and without crime. If this sound like the way you would like to live, then contact your nearest Trutopian centre.

  “This is how we are going to save the world, my friends. Not with huge armies, or trade embargos, or enough nuclear weapons to destroy the planet a thousand times over. Not even with super-powered humans. The world will be saved by ordinary people like you and me. People who care enough to stand up and be counted. So stand up. Be counted. Save the world.”


  The transmission ended and the television set automatically turned itself off.

  Colin stared at the now-blank screen.

  He jumped when the telephone rang, and made a grab for it. “Hello?”

  “Colin? It’s me,” Reginald Kinsella said. “Are you hungry? There’s this great place—”

  “Hey…I was just watching…That was…”.

  “Are you OK?”

  “You…You’re right. We can do it. I don’t know how much help I will be, but I’m willing to give it a go.”

  After a moment’s pause, Kinsella said, “Colin, I appreciate that, I really do. But you should know that the military – and not just in the States, but all over the world – well, they’re not going to respond positively to that broadcast. I’m pretty certain that they’re all making plans to move against us.”

  “We’ll stop them. You have me on your side now.”

  “Even if it means…?”

  “Yes,” Colin said. “Even if it means I’ll be going up against the New Heroes.”

  10

  RENATA SOLIZ AND Danny Cooper were eating lunch in Sakkara’s dining hall when Razor dragged over a chair and sat down. He slumped forward until his forehead thumped the table.

  Renata and Danny continued eating in silence.

  “Does anybody,” Razor asked, his voice muffled, “want to know how my day is going?”

  “No,” Danny said.

  “Anybody else?”

  “Go on then,” Renata said. “Tell us.”

  Razor rolled his head to the side and looked at them. “Slowly. There’s a saying: the first ninety per cent of the work takes ninety per cent of the time, and the remaining ten per cent of the work takes the other ninety per cent of the time.”

  Danny was about to reply when Impervia approached the table.

  “Meeting in Ops,” the woman said, “You’re all invited.”

  Razor lifted his head. “Even me?”

  “No. You go back to work on the armour.”

  “Am I allowed to eat first?”

  “You’ve got five minutes.”

  Razor groaned and allowed his head to drop down again.

  Danny and Renata followed Impervia out of the room and down to Ops, where they found almost everyone else crowded into the small room.

  “Everything is changing,” General Piers growled. “Everything. The media battle we’re fighting with the Trutopians is not going well. Kinsella and his people are smart: they know how to use the system and they are shaking the public’s confidence. Congress has been talking about us. We do not want Congress talking about us.” He turned to Danny and Renata. “Tonight’s patrol of Topeka is cancelled. I want you training as much as possible over the next few days. You’re to prepare yourselves for a trip to Romania to bring back your friend.”

  Danny froze in the act of biting his nails. “You found Colin?”

  “Almost. He made a phone call to your friend Brian McDonald. We traced the call to a Trutopian community in northern Romania. We know that Kinsella is also in Romania right now. If he can successfully enlist Colin to the Trutopians, they’ve won. We have a team scouting it out now, but the Trutopians are making things difficult for us.”

  “They’re not talking?”

  “No, worse. They are talking. Every one of them who spoke to Colin or even just saw him has come forward and they’re telling us everything in extreme detail.”

  Danny put his hand in front of his face to hide his grin.

  “As soon as we pin-point him, we’ll be sending you in to bring him back. The Trutopians won’t like that. You’re going to have to go in covertly.”

  Warren Wagner said, “General, it doesn’t matter how you approach him. If Colin doesn’t want to come back to us, you won’t be able to persuade him.”

  “We will. We have to. Colin is by far the most recognisable and popular of the New Heroes. We’re going to need the good publicity his return will generate, because our strategists are predicting that Kinsella’s next move will be to reveal what happened with Mina and Yvonne. The Trutopian spin-doctors are going to make it look like the girls were held here against their will.”

  Renata said, “Well, they were! That’s no way to treat a human being! Why were they even here to begin with? Yvonne told us that they’d been here all their lives. Why? Superhuman abilities don’t show up until you reach puberty. Did you know that they’d become superhuman? Was one of their parents a superhuman?”

  Everyone in the room fell silent, watching the general.

  He cleared his throat. “Their background is classified.”

  Danny said, “If we ever encounter Yvonne again, it’d help to have all the information about her. I mean, we all thought she was just very smart and very strong, but it turned out she had mind-control too.” Danny realised he was staring at Max Dalton as he said this. “Oh my God…Are you their father?”

  Max shook his head. “No.”

  “Josh, then? Or is your sister their mother?”

  “There is no genetic connection between my family and theirs.”

  “The matter is closed,” General Piers said.

  Renata stood up. “If you want us to do your dirty work, General, then you’re going to have to start treating us better. Tell us everything we need to know about Yvonne or I’m walking out of here. I mean it.”

  The old man regarded her for a moment. “Yes. I believe you do.” He nodded to Impervia. “Tell them.”

  Impervia said, “Yvonne and Mina were found on the day of the final battle with Ragnarök. Paragon discovered them in one of Ragnarök’s hide-outs.”

  Renata’s mouth dropped open. “Their father is Ragnarök?”

  “In a way, yes. We haven’t been able to determine the extent of the work Ragnarök did. Our interrogations have proved almost fruitless. All we have really learned is that Yvonne and Mina are the only two who survived. This is why we brought Mrs Duval to Sakkara. She’s the only link we have.”

  “You’ve lost me,” Danny said. “What do you mean they’re the only two who survived? How many children did he have?”

  “We believe there were six,” Impervia said, “but only Yvonne and Mina survived. When Paragon found them, they were suspended in an amniotic fluid inside artificial wombs. They were about three years old. They’d spent their entire lives in glass jars. Renata, you said that keeping Mina and Yvonne here was no way to treat a human being.” She sighed. “Strictly speaking, those girls are not human.”

  Caroline Wagner said, “Oh my God. They’re clones.”

  “Yes. Ragnarök cloned himself. Four of the six clones failed to gestate, but Mina and Yvonne survived. In fact, they flourished.”

  “So Mrs Duval…She’s their grandmother?”

  Impervia nodded. “She is. But she doesn’t know that, and she’ll never find out.” She glanced at Warren. “If she won’t talk to you, she’s not going to talk to anyone. We’ve learned everything we can from her. She will shortly be leaving Sakkara.”

  Façade asked, “Where are you taking her?”

  Impervia ignored him. “I trust this matter is now closed and your curiosity about Mina and Yvonne is satisfied. We have work to do, people.”

  In the heart of the newly-built Trutopian community in Wyoming, Yvonne sat in her sealed quarters, staring at the phone, waiting for Victor Cross to call.

  She hadn’t spoken to him in over a day, and she knew why: Cross was feeling pleased with himself and he didn’t want her ruining the mood by reminding him that if Colin learned the truth he could – and probably would – destroy them all single-handedly.

  Victor’s arrogant to the point of self-delusion, Yvonne thought, running her hands through her long, jet-black hair. He thinks his way is the only way. And he’s willing to step on anybody to prove himself right.

  If I didn’t know the truth I’d swear that he was a Ragnarök clone too.

  Yvonne had been eleven years old when she first realised that she was smarter than her s
ister. Within two months she was smarter than anyone in Sakkara.

  It had taken her a week to hack into Sakkara’s computers, and a further week to decrypt some of the data taken from Ragnarök’s computers eight years earlier.

  And that was when she learned where she and Mina had come from.

  Yvonne had entered Mina’s bedroom to find her sister sitting on the wide window ledge, her head resting on the sloped glass, staring out at the hills that surrounded Sakkara.

  It had been almost six months since Yvonne and Mina had been allowed outside: their birthday treat the day they turned eleven.

  Each day they were allocated an hour of personal time, during which they were free to read, watch television, play games or do anything they liked. As long as it didn’t involve leaving the building, eating food that was on the “restricted” list, listening to music that General Piers didn’t approve of, being loud or getting in anyone’s way.

  The rest of the day was spent studying or being subjected to tests by Sakkara’s technicians and scientists.

  From the little television they had seen, they were aware that normal eleven-year-old girls were allowed to go outside, have friends, eat junk food, go to parties and have sleepovers where they could sit up all night and talk about the boys they liked.

  Yvonne and Mina had never met any boys.

  As the door hissed closed behind Yvonne, Mina’s shoulders sagged. Without turning around, she said, “No luck?”

  “No,” Yvonne dropped on to the bunk and lay on her stomach, her face and arms dangling over the edge, her fingertips brushing the thin carpet. “I swear…General Piers is the most miserable old man in the world.”

  “He’s not letting us out.” Mina said. It wasn’t even a question.

  “He didn’t even look at me. Just said, ‘No’. Just like that. He didn’t even pretend to be thinking about it.”

  “You’re smarter than he is. You ought to be able to come up with a way to persuade him.” Mina finally turned to face her sister. “They shouldn’t be allowed to keep us prisoner here. I mean, it’s illegal, right?”

  Yvonne raised her head. “Technically, it’s not. Cloning is prohibited, therefore anything created through the process of human gene manipulation isn’t subject to human status. If we’re not humans, it’s not illegal to keep us locked up.”