The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price

Author:Susan Price
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
Published: 2016-06-10T14:37:04+00:00

13

21st Side: A Short, Sharp Shock for the Sterkarms

By the time security called Bryce from the meeting, things were out of control, and there was nothing he could do except stand and watch. He certainly wasn’t going to threaten Windsor’s life by further panicking an already panicked and dangerous Per Sterkarm.

He’d felt his caution was vindicated when Windsor, at least, was released. “Nobody move!” Bryce yelled above the excited chatter that immediately broke out. He didn’t want any heroes chasing Per Sterkarm through the Tube and straight into a Sterkarm ambush—not that the security guards showed any disposition to be heroic, despite Windsor’s ranting.

Bryce looked to the security monitors, to try and get some idea of what exactly was going on 16th side. One showed a distant corner of the compound fence, one the sky and the others various shots of the Sterkarms outside the compound. While he was still cursing, a couple of guards from the 16th side came running to safety through the Tube. Bryce’s hopes rose.

But then smoke came drifting through the Tube and the control room shook to a crash so loud that Bryce ducked forward, clapping his hands to his ears. A sound like an immense car crash, of metal wrenching and shearing, of concrete cracking and falling.

The shaking stopped, and Bryce straightened, realizing that the control room was still standing. People had fallen to the floor, but a quick look around showed him none who seemed to be seriously hurt. As his numbed hearing recovered, he heard people whimpering, computers bleeping, and debris still falling.

The Tube had torn in half. People grabbed fire extinguishers to deal with the flames. Bryce moved through the control room and out onto the platform in front of the shattered Tube. The facing of its curved inner wall was in tatters, like wallpaper in a demolished house. Circuit boards hung out of cavities on wires. The cement of the roadway was cracked. Scaffolding was twisted and sheared. The whole farther end of the Tube, the half that had once opened into the past, was missing. Smoke drifted about them.

Windsor’s voice rose above the other noise. “How was this allowed to happen? I want answers!”

Windsor was a sight. His hair, usually combed and oiled into place, had fallen in a tangle about his face. He had buttoned his shirt and put his tie straight, but both still looked mussed and wrinkled. Blood from his cut ear had dried on his face and run down his neck, marking the collar of his shirt with an ugly stain.

“Where were you?” Windsor said. “You’re head of security, where the hell were you? What use are you?” Windsor’s heart was still racketing within him, from the many shocks and humiliations he’d undergone—the sight of Bryce, calm and unmolested, was enraging. So was the sight of the wrecked Tube. He pointed at it. “I want that up again! Up and running! By the end of the day!”

No one was listening to him. Several of the technicians were talking to Bryce.

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