The Rising Fire

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Book excerpt

Prologue

Ten years ago

It was nearly two in the afternoon. Si Daniels swirled the melting ice in his glass of Scotch. He perched awkwardly against the hotel bar, one hand on the counter, the other whiling away another hour on a single drink. Daniels’ feet twitched anxiously, scuffing his old leather shoes against the parquet floor. Once upon a time, the shoes were a quality purchase, much like Daniels’ suit and the semblance of a haircut he didn’t seem able to part with. But, like the Grandchester Hotel that housed him, they’d all seen better days. By chance the hotel had found itself on the right side of the border when the wall went up thirty years earlier. The cheap rooms and concrete views attracted a clientele more accustomed to life in the slums, needing a base of operation while they conned their way across the capital. Daniels was such a guest, lingering between what was beginning to feel like two worlds, trying to find a way home that didn’t end in poverty.

A burner phone sat in front of him. He checked it every few minutes, growing more anxious with every disappointed glance. Two days ago, he’d put feelers out around the city looking for a buyer interested in stolen security software. That had been his second mistake. His first was accepting a job from ViperCorp Securities in the first place. But Daniels wasn’t in a position to be turning down work. He had debts to pay, two families to subsidise, and a gambling habit that overwhelmed both.

The prospect of a temporary respite to his financial hardships dazzled him, distracting him from the obvious signs this was going to go south. The biggest being that a respected security company would enlist a third-rate thief to secure a product that was worth millions. The second was the target, Jay Stanton. Stanton was supposed to provide them with the program he had designed—until ViperCorp had retracted their generous deal three weeks ago and Stanton told them to go to hell. One double-cross always leads to another. Now Daniels had a computer program he didn’t understand, ViperCorp tearing apart London looking for him, and no buyer to save the day.

From the back of the bar, Charlie Smith kept an eye on Daniels over the top of his newspaper. He knew all about Daniels’ woes, and it wasn’t difficult to see where the thief’s future was going. Charlie checked his watch. His brother would already be in Daniels’ room. In a few minutes he would crack the safe there. And then Charlie would finish his drink and leave the Grandchester and London for good.

“You in the mood for some company?” The female voice made him start.

When Charlie looked up, a woman was leaning over him, her breasts spilling from her tight dress as though they were coming up for air. She smiled, cracking the creases in her heavily applied makeup. She was holding on to her beauty, but it wasn’t enough to hide the severity in her eyes. She’d approached Charlie because he was in an expensive jacket and she’d seen him buy a drink from a wallet full of notes. Unlike Daniels, Charlie was at the top of his game.

She twisted herself to present her best angle. Charlie put her in her forties, twice his age and an expert in her trade. He entertained the idea of paying her to distract Daniels, to buy John enough time to get the job done. It was too risky though. If anyone came snooping around later, they’d connect the woman to Daniels, and inevitably Charlie to the woman. The last thing he needed was another corrupt, ruthless corporation hunting them down.

He opened his mouth to respectfully decline, when he saw Daniels bolt for the door. Charlie jumped up after him, pushing past the whore. He grabbed the door at the exit and turned in the lobby, expecting to see Daniels hit the stairs. The steps were empty. He looked left instead, catching the man fleeing out the hotel’s main entrance. Charlie launched himself forward.

A heavy cloud of smog had settled on the city. Vehicles chuntered over the road, clogging at the entrance to the border control. To Charlie’s right, he caught Daniels weaving through the cars and reaching the opposing pavement. Charlie chased after him. He thrust into his jacket to grab his phone. They’d checked Daniels’ pockets an hour ago, and he was clean. He had no vehicle, no safe house. The only place he could have kept the program was the hotel room, so why was he running? Charlie pulled his phone out and punched the menu key. A force hit him from behind, hurling him across the road.

When he came to, his face was pressed into the tarmac. Slowly, on his hands and knees, he panted into the sidewalk. His fingers brushed plastic. He looked and saw his phone, smashed and sitting in a puddle of brown water along with a set of false teeth. He frowned and raised his head. In front of him an old man sat gawping, empty mouthed. His grey eyes fixated on something behind Charlie. Confused, Charlie turned back to the Grandchester—what was left of it.

A smoking skeletal structure stood in its place. The upper floors had disintegrated downwards, swiping away two sides of the building with them. Smoke and dust blossomed in their stead. If Charlie hadn’t chased after Daniels when he did, he’d still be inside. He’d probably be dead. Then it dawned on him. John was still in Daniels’ room.

Bystanders helped the old man to his feet, recovering his teeth from the pavement. Charlie wasn’t in the mood for help. He scrambled to his feet before they could reach him, ignoring the pain in his arms and legs from the fall. There was no serious damage, nothing that would stop him racing back to the Grandchester and pulling his brother free.

Sirens blared around him. They were in London; the response time here was quick. There would be police coming, and they’d want to ask questions. Charlie hesitated, knowing if he ran to help, the authorities would catch him.

Before he could make up his mind, red and blue flashed in his line of vision. Seconds later bodies were being pulled from the rubble. Charlie was still staring, his clothes betraying his proximity to the blast. He backed away from the crowd, from the police looking for witnesses, before anyone could spot him. There was a car park across the street littered in broken glass and dust. He grasped the railings shielding him from the emergency services and looked back at the hotel. Logically, John couldn’t have survived. He was three floors up. Now there were no floors, just one pile. John had to be buried in there. But if Charlie concentrated, if he reached out with his mind, he could sense his brother inside. As impossible as it was, he was sure his brother was alive.

More bodies were pulled from the rubble. Eight dead. Charlie scanned the scene, looking for signs of movement within the carnage. He toyed with his broken phone, trying to piece it together and finding it as ruined as the hotel. It was getting dark, and he was starting to doubt his earlier confidence. He concentrated again, reaching out to see if he could sense a stronger presence. John was still there, still moving, still fighting. At least Charlie believed he was.

A rumble rattled through the building. The firefighters inside fled, escaping seconds before the building gave out and imploded. There was no way anyone inside could still be alive. There was nothing left. Charlie felt his hands start to shake. He couldn’t even comprehend the possibility of a life without his brother. He glared at the firemen, surrendering to the catastrophe, not knowing what to do.

“Been waiting long?” John said from behind him.

When Charlie turned, John was standing there, as though he’d been there the whole time. There was debris on his clothes and a small gash on his head, but nothing to suggest he’d just survived a building collapsing on him. He looked at Charlie, expectant and smug.

“How the hell did you get out of there?” Charlie was so overwhelmed he pushed John back, then grabbed hold of him to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

“Crawled mostly,” John said with a shrug. He pointed at his trousers. “Knees are fucking threadbare.”

There was a commotion outside the hotel. The police were pushing the crowd back, trying to isolate the area. John tipped his head. It was time to leave. Side by side, they headed back towards their car, parked three streets down. Charlie tried to play it cool—he tried to pretend he was as nonchalant as his brother—but minutes earlier he’d been waiting for John’s body to be pulled from the rubble, and now he was striding through London like he owned the place. He had so many questions, starting with the most important.

“Did you get it?”

John’s hands were stuffed deep into his pockets. A faint blush rushed up his cheeks. And if Charlie weren’t already in a state of shock, he was about to encounter his brother being embarrassed. Incredible as his survival was, he’d been in the Grandchester for a reason. John was a perfectionist, and empty pockets were unacceptable.

“No.”

“No? What do you mean no? What happened?”

“The fucking building blew up,” John snapped.

“So it’s still in there?”

“No. But I know where it is.”

Charlie looked at him expectantly, but John had already moved on. Charlie watched his brother slip deeper into the London shadows. If John knew where the program was, then they would find it. They’d get the job done. They were the infamous Smith brothers; they always got the job done. He fastened his jacket and went after his brother.

Chapter One

Charlie pressed against a frost-covered pine as the sun retreated. He peeled back his gloves to check his watch; the night air chewed on his exposed skin. The second hand rotated twice. He nudged his brother. John hooked his rifle over his shoulder and pulled his balaclava down. In three strides he disappeared into the woods. Charlie checked his watch again. Time to go.

Thirty miles of forest stretched in front of him, interrupted only by a single undocumented dirt track slicing between the trees. At the end of the road a twelve-foot barbed wire gate and fence encircled a three-mile-wide dip in the terrain. The site was marked only with a battered Private sign hanging loosely across the gate, pretending that the road beyond was nothing but a dead end. Charlie knew better. The fence was intact, the gate locked. What was the point in maintaining defences if the road led nowhere?

He moved forwards. The brace on his weak leg bore the weight of his descent. The pain in his hip and back was irrelevant against the importance of this final job. His boots struck the tarmacked road, and twilight embraced him. A sudden hush settled on the surrounding wilderness. Charlie sucked in a breath and waited.

Nothing.

No warning shot.

No rush of guards coming to capture him.

His attention flicked left to his brother’s hideout. Then right to where he knew Rachel would be waiting. He checked his watch a final time. On cue an engine rumbled through the trees behind him. Half a mile down the road, Roxy was covering their escape. But Charlie had no intention of escaping. This was it for him. And he was ready.

His boots crunched on the frozen tarmac as he advanced on the gate. To his left a concealed camera pointed at the entrance. If it was being monitored, they would know he was coming. Let them know.

He counted his steps. Three more and he would be visible. He looked to the growing shadows—they were on his side—and moved forward.

The silence deepened. His heart quickened. He pulled his gloves off and pressed his hands against the metal framework of the gate. It was sealed with three electric bolts. Charlie closed his eyes and let his mind wander. Like a current, his powers surged through the gate, reading every twist of wire, every supporting frame. He travelled through its mechanics, learning it, understanding it. Controlling it. He found the operating system, his mind merging with it. And then he was the gate blocking his path. He twisted his hand sharply. The fuse box blew, the locks releasing. He let go of the gate and swiped his hands apart. With a violent creak it flew open and clattered against the fence.

Charlie stood, exposed. An open target for a lazy shooter. The air rattled in his body. He waited. Waited for the alarm. The soldiers. The bullets.

But there was still nothing.

His lips parted, another plume of breath twisting in front of him.

He took one final look at the shadows and stepped across enemy lines.

The track devolved into mud and stone, hugged by a lower tree canopy. The darkness deepened until he was surrounded by an eerie emptiness. The cold worsened, sinking through his clothing, penetrating his body to his bones. The moment stretched forward, the black seemingly infinite. And then it was suddenly lifted. The woodland broke and a concrete structure was exposed.

The sight of it hit Charlie hard. He was unable to move forward, the wind knocked from his body. The broken, vengeful man was suddenly gone. In his place was a terrified boy, staring at his worst nightmares unfolding. He blinked, concentrating on the pain in his back, reminding himself who he was and why he was here. This is not the place, he assured himself. This could not be the place they incarcerated him all those years ago. The structure was square and unmarked like the building from his childhood, housing an identical single, fortified entrance. But the laboratory he was held in was made vulnerable by a rocky incline, climbable by two young boys with nothing to lose. Here the ground where the incline could have been slumped, petering off to a small, stinking pond. This is not the place, he assured himself again. This is not the place.

Charlie squared his feet, stretching his back before the building. He would not be intimidated. He would coax them out of the bunker, and John would pick them off.

As he neared the building, he flexed his fingers, savouring the power he could wield. He reached out, feeling for anything threatening. Weapons, vehicles, machinery. He sensed nothing awaiting him. But that couldn’t be right. If this was an Institute laboratory, it would be protected.

The stretch of tarmac that circled the building was now fully exposed and empty. Charlie was dumbfounded. Last week the road had been full of military vehicles. At the very least there should have been a handful of base vehicles parked up.

Charlie stopped walking, hit by a cold, unsettling thought. What if they were waiting for him? What if they had known he was coming for a long time? What if they intended to capture him and resume their experiments? There was still time to turn back, and for the first time since arriving in the forest, he was considering it. He wasn’t afraid to die, but he was never going to be their lab rat again.