Helix Nexus, Chris Lofts [best android ereader .txt] 📗

He needed to get a fix on the shooter. Bobbing from cover, another burst of fire located the source behind a vent. The meshed framework supporting the circular landing deck offered cover but no route across. As Helix looked for an alternative, the shooter gifted him his location by ducking and rolling across to a neighbouring structure. Helix got off a shot. He missed. A shower of sparks burst as the bullet pinged from a metal stanchion. With a better fix on the shooter’s location, Helix pulled one of the three remaining multi-mode grenades from his jacket. He set the delay, sprung up and skimmed the device across the smooth surface of the landing area towards the hidden shooter. The resulting flash silhouetted the man as he leaped onto the platform to escape the explosion. Ethan provided insurance with a rapid burst from the MP5. The man fell dead.

Catching his breath, Helix checked his leg. The damage wasn’t serious. He completed a cautious circumnavigation of the platform to make sure the shooter was acting alone. On the leeside of a satellite array, he paused and listened. Wiping the wind-whipped drizzle from his face, his attention was drawn towards the roof of the Justice Ministry. In between gusts, the whine of the quadcopter’s engines was carried out of the dark. ‘Maybe that bird wasn’t for her after all,’ he said, crouching next to Ethan. ‘Unless it’s waiting for a green light.’

‘We could wait,’ Ethan said. ‘See if she puts in an appearance.’

‘Hmm. I’m going to go back down via the public stairwell,’ Helix said, rubbing his chin. ‘You cover the private one and the lifts.’

‘And if she appears?’

‘Shoot the bitch. She’s not going to walk, talk or fly her way out of this one.’ He handed Ethan one of the remaining grenades. ‘If anything lands on the pad, put it out of action with this.’

‘Happy hunting.’ Ethan nodded. ‘Nate?’

Helix turned back from the door. ‘What’s up?’

‘I didn’t say thanks. Thanks for coming back for me.’

‘You’d have done the same for me, Bruv.’ He nodded. ‘Stay sharp.’

Helix cringed as he stepped into the public stairwell and into the unrelenting blare of the fire klaxons. Four flights of stairs later he was at the first door, the 55th floor. He paused, not necessarily out of caution. It was more out of memory. The memory of the last time he’d stood at this door on this floor. Ignoring the pounding in his head from the alarm, he eased the door open. The magenta carpet and the wood panelling pulsed in the fire alarm strobes, the only source of light in the corridor.

Stepping onto the carpet, he froze as the klaxons fell silent, leaving only the strobes. Yawlander had sole occupancy of this floor. The door to the General’s apartment was approximately five paces from the stairs, seven from the lift. All of the other floors above the MoHD offices had smaller apartments with more residents, most of whom were now somewhere in the stairwell with any night-duty office staff on their way to ground level. Tight against the wall, Helix approached the door. He stopped. He was wasting time. Yawlander’s apartment would still be cordoned off, pending completion of the investigation.

The stairwell filled with the throaty clatter of a quadcopter attempting to put down on the roof. The roar of the engines competed with the wind before relenting and sliding into their whining wind down. Helix hesitated, one hand on the bannister. A distinctive EMP crump brought a powdery cloud of dust down from above. He primed himself, ready to ascend at the sound of gunfire. There was none. The copter must have been unmanned or Ethan had taken the pilot without a fight.

He cracked the door to Yawlander’s corridor open again. If Lytkin was in there, or anywhere else, the quad’s arrival would flush her out. He watched and listened. No movement. With his eyes closed, he took a tour of Yawlander’s apartment in his mind, the strobes flaring through his eyelids, a rising tide of anticipation rolling in his stomach. Had he missed it the first time? Staccato light danced down the corridor. In between beats, a thin blade of still light escaped from beneath Yawlander’s door.

37

The lock of Yawlander’s apartment door released. Helix eased the stairwell door closed. He could have moved to the first half-landing, granting him an elevated line of fire. In spite of the chaos and confusion that would have been unfolding on the stairs further down, he didn’t want gunfire drawing attention. He holstered his weapon, gripped the door handle and held it in place. Gritting his teeth, he took the first downward press. A second: firmer, sustained. Muffled words leaked through the door: confused cursing, rather than conversation. Helix assessed the threat. A single expendable dispatched to recce. He released the handle and leapt to the side on the third attempt. The door exploded inwards.

A groan of winded anguish echoed in the void as the flailing man folded over the railing, his hands scrabbling for grip, gravity and momentum pulling him towards the stairs. Helix caught him on the rebound with a left-handed jab to the nose. Stunned but not out, his opponent lunged with a drunken counterpunch. Helix side-stepped and drove his half-clenched knuckles into his throat. The man dropped to his knees, hands to his neck.

‘I’d know those jug ears anywhere.’ Helix spat. ‘Finch. Why am I not surprised to see you?’

Finch wheezed and rolled over. Leaning against the railings, he gasped raspy breaths, dabbing his bloodied nose with his fingers.

‘Where’s Ormandy? Lytkin!’ Helix kicked at his boot. ‘Did you know?’

‘Know what?’ Finch croaked.

‘Don’t play fucking dumb with me, you maggot,’ He dragged Finch to his feet.

‘I was in the reception when she appeared from her office with two of her security detail.’ He gasped a few breaths. ‘She screamed something about a security breach.’

‘And you stepped in, offered your service,