Absolute Power. Michael Carroll

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СКАЧАТЬ “I suppose it gets pretty lonely out there on the road, so we’ve also given you an MP3 player. It’s got a couple of thousand tracks on it. We weren’t sure what kind of music you like, but there’s bound to be something there that’ll suit you.”

      Then Harriet reached into her jacket’s inside pocket and took out a thick envelope. “Five hundred Euro, five hundred US Dollars.” She handed it to Colin. “And there’s a Trutopian credit card in there too. In case of emergencies. It doesn’t have a very high limit, so don’t go trying to buy a Ferrari with it.”

      Colin found that his mouth had gone dry. “You’re just giving me all this stuff?”

      Byron nodded. “Yep.”

      “Even though I said I wasn’t interested in talking to you?”

      He nodded again. “That’s right. Look, Colin…This is how Mr Kinsella put it: you’re a superhuman. And more than that, you’re one of the good guys. That puts us all on the same side. If we make things easier for you to help people, that makes things easier for us.”

      “It just seems…” Colin shrugged. “Like a bribe or something.”

      Harriet said, “It’s not a bribe. It’s what we do, it’s what the whole organisation is about. We help people who are less fortunate. We’ve been following you long enough to know that you have no money, no change of clothes, no food, and you haven’t had a shower in over a month.”

      “Actually,” Byron said, “we could tell that one even if we hadn’t been tracking you. But she’s right. Sure, the Trutopians want you on-board. But if you’re not interested, then what are we going to do? Force you to join? That’s not our style.” He reached down and picked up the bag. “So come on. We’ll give you a lift to Satu Mare, and there’s no strings attached.”

      It could be OK, Colin said to himself. They’re not superhuman. If they tried to kidnap me or anything I could just smash open the car door and jump out. “All right,” he said.

      “Great!” Byron said. “You don’t mind if we drive with the windows down, do you?”

      “I’m right behind you, Ren,” Butler Redmond whispered.

      Renata didn’t need to look over her shoulder to know that the older boy was telling the truth: she could almost feel his breath on the back of her neck.

      Does he really think that I need protection? She wondered. I’m twice as strong as he is!

      “Not too far now,” Butler whispered.

      Through clenched teeth, Renata muttered. “Yes. I know.”

      “So what we’ll do, right, is wait for Danny to give the signal and then we’ll rush through, smash into the guys guarding the door, then split up. You take the one on the left and I’ll take the one on the right.”

      “Sure. Whatever.”

      Butler paused. “Unless you want to take the one on the right?”

      Renata stopped walked suddenly. Butler almost crashed into her. She turned to face him. “Butler?”

      “What?”

      “Back off. You’re invading my personal space again.”

      “Right, right.” He grinned. “But you have to admit, we’re a good team. The way we took down those hijackers last month – that was class!”

      Façade caught up with them. “What’s the delay?”

      “Just working on the plan,” Butler replied.

      “Leave the planning to Impervia,” Façade told him. “You two just do as you’re told.”

      Butler raised his eyes. “Why are you even here, Façade? You’re just the pilot! You’re a chauffeur, not a soldier.”

      “I’m here just in case you wet your pants again like you did when Dioxin’s men attacked Sakkara.” Without waiting for Butler to respond, Façade said, “Now get moving. And stay alert.”

      Smiling to herself, Renata marched on. It’s Butler’s own fault that no one likes him. Before we got to Sakkara the only friends he had were Yvonne and Mina, and they only tolerated him because he was the first person they ever met who was close to their own age.

      Renata swallowed. God, poor Mina…

      For a very brief time, there had been eight teenagers in Sakkara. Then Yvonne had turned out to be a traitor working for Victor Cross, and had used her mind-control ability to put her sister Mina into a coma. After Solomon Cord had been killed, his daughters Alia and Stephanie had left with their mother. Colin had run away.

      Now there’s just three New Heroes left, Renata said to herself. And I’m not even sure that I want to be one of them.

      Behind her, Butler crashed through the undergrowth. “Keep the noise down, Bubbles!” Renata whispered.

      “Don’t call me Bubbles,” Butler said. “And it’s not my fault. It’s these new boots of mine.”

      They’re still not as noisy as that big mouth of yours. Renata knew better than to say that out loud: Butler had a tendency to sulk for days. This is no kind of life. If it wasn’t for Danny…She didn’t allow her thoughts to go any further than that.

      She knew that later, when they returned to Sakkara, she would lie awake in her sparse bedroom, staring at the blank walls, wishing that she didn’t have to stay in that horrible place.

      I wonder which idiot thought it was a good idea that we should stay there after Dioxin attacked. General Piers, probably. Grumpy old fool. At least we don’t have much contact with him these days. No, we’re all part of the military now. Have to follow the blasted chain of command.

      Renata couldn’t see a way out of her situation: she didn’t want to remain in Sakkara, and she didn’t want to go and live with her parents in their Trutopian community.

      When Ragnarök’s power-stripping machine had been used, Renata had been in her crystalline form. She’d remained frozen for ten years, until an accident during a test-run of Max Dalton’s machine had somehow freed her. She’d woken into a world where her younger brother and sister were now adults and had left home, her parents had joined the Trutopian organisation, and everyone else she’d known had long since forgotten her.

      Physically, Renata was still only fourteen years old, but she’d been born twenty-four years ago. That was the argument the Trutopians’ lawyer was using: from their point of view, Renata was still a minor. But General Piers wasn’t about to give up one of his three remaining superhumans, so the government’s lawyers were arguing that Renata’s chronological age was what mattered, not her physical age.

      They’re fighting over me like hungry dogs over a scrap of meat. The Trutopians want me because it’ll be great publicity to have a superhuman in their ranks, but General Piers would probably have me shot before he handed me over to Reginald Kinsella and his people.

      Impervia’s voice whispered through Renata’s headset. “Look СКАЧАТЬ