Raiders

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Mason looked out over the Manhattan skyline and watched the city turn from gold to red in the sunset. Out here on the balcony the summer night was hot and humid and fifty storeys below the streets buzzed with life. He shook his head as he thought about where he was standing. This entire skyscraper was off-limits to the rest of the world and it was all his.

If he wanted it.

He turned and went back inside the strange but comforting cocoon that was Titanfort and smiled at his friends, old and new. Gathered in Ezra Haven’s office they were waiting for the great man to return from what everyone around here simply called Olympus. The seat of the gods. The men and women upstairs.

They didn’t have to wait long.

Ezra opened the heavy door and stepped over to his desk. He sat in the soft leather chair and stared at them for a few moments. The last of the day’s light shone on his face and he looked proud.

After several long moments, he leaned forward in his chair, rested his arms on his desk and steepled his fingers. “Not bad.”

Mason and the others shared a look, and then Zara said, “Is that it?”

“That’s it,” he said flatly. “What did you expect? Milk and cookies?”

“No,” she said. “Maybe a thanks. We risked our lives for that goddam book. Our friend died.”

Ezra locked his eyes on her. He looked like a father trying to explain to a child why not to touch the fire. “Listen, you’re sitting in Titanfort. This is the most secret spy hub in the entire world, even more so than Titanpointe just across town. Here, you a part of a team that has the most extensive intelligence contacts and surveillance the world has ever seen. People spend thirty years working for the CIA and they’re still not getting into this place. There’s your thanks right there, so you’re welcome.”

Zara tried to look nonchalant, but everyone could see Ezra had delivered a fatal blow. “Right.”

“And the book?” Caleb asked.

Ezra managed a neutral smile. “The book is currently in a secure location.”

“How reassuring,” Ella said. “But tell me, did Kranz reading from the text have anything to do with the necropolis falling apart, or was it just the grenades?”

“You’re not in Titanfort yet, Miss Makepeace,” Ezra said with a knowing smile. “So there are some things I can’t answer.”

Milo broke the tension. “I must say, the place is impressive.”

“And all fifty floors are ours,” Ezra said. “We need them. We’re engaged in a covert battle here, guys. This isn’t child’s play or some stupid action novel. This is real. This is a vicious war with a shadow power that is very clear about wanting our destruction and the whole thing is fought under the radar. The people of the world have no idea this war is being waged. They can never know, and if you join this office you leave your old lives behind forever.”

He got up from his desk and looked out over the city. The stars were coming out over Central Park. “When you join Titanfort you move into another world and it’s a one-way journey. Do I make myself clear?”

Mason answered at once. “Yes.”

“There’s no going back, guys.” Ezra’s voice suddenly grew cold and deadly. “Let me make this totally clear: no one ever leaves Titanfort. You get me?”

Mason got him, and so did the others. A mission like the war against Occulta Manu was the highest level of classification. While they were on the team they would have access to the most highly classified information in the world. The only way to leave Titanfort was death. If you joined, you joined for life.

“So how does this work?” Zara said.

Ezra smiled. “Like I said, the entire building is ours. Three entrances. Palm print, eye scan and voice recognition to get in. You tell no one about what goes on in this place. We have residential quarters on several floors and a gym and a pool. We take personal fitness very seriously at Titanfort and we have annual medicals.”

“What if you fail?” Milo said. “I thought you said no one ever leaves?”

“You don’t fail your medical.”

“Got it.”

“Looks like you need to get yourself some treadmill time, Piglet,” Zara said, and squeezed Milo’s stomach.

“Hey! Get off.”

“She’s right,” Ezra said. “Lose twenty pounds.”

Zara burst into laughter. “Man, I love this place! Please, please, please can I be his personal trainer?”

“You cannot,” Ezra said. “We have people for that.” He turned to Milo. “Start in the morning. Floor 25.”

“Got it.”

“Say goodbye to those pastries, Chunk,” Zara said.

Milo sighed. “I’m really not that bad,” he said. He turned to Ezra, his face getting very serious. “Is there a drugs policy at Titanfort?”

“Of course. Drug tests every month.”

Milo turned to Zara and smirked. “Oh dear, a drugs test every month, you say Ezra?”

“Yes.”

“And is that another one of those tests that you can’t fail?”

“It is.”

Milo intensified his gaze at Zara and widened his smirk. “Thanks for clearing that up, Ezra.”

“You bastard,” she said.

A ripple of laughter went around the room, then Ezra raised his voice to regain their focus. “We have another more extensive training facility in Wyoming. It’s about ten times more secret than Area 51.”

Milo laughed.

“Why are you laughing?” Ezra said.

“The Area 51 thing, I was… nothing.”

“I’m not joking,” Ezra said flatly. “Our facility in Wyoming is called The Ranch. Less than five hundred people know about it and they’re all top level former military or intel. Now you know. If you want to work with me or not is up to you.”

Zara said, “If it means having a chance to get revenge on the people who killed Virgil, then I think we should do it. We owe it to him.”

Mason cleared his throat. “So what’s the next mission?”

Ezra turned on the laptop and a large picture filled the white screen at the end of the office.

They all stared at it for several seconds in awed silence. “That’s the next mission?” Mason said.

“Yes.”

Zara whistled loudly. “I do not believe what I’m seeing.”

Each of them was unable to move their eyes away from the image on the screen.

After a minute or so, Ezra spoke. “So,” he said, his voice cutting the stunned silence. “Are you in?”