Rebel Heart

A sinking feeling filled Brady. The sub bumped against a dock, and the door opened to reveal the man he assumed was Jim, dressed in his workout clothing with mussed hair.

"I'll bring the others over," the sub pilot said.

Brady heard without responding, striding away from the sub.

"Sir, you may not want to go above ground just yet. There are missile strikes on this side now."

His heart dropped at the words. He touched his net implant but found the network scrambled, indicating the jets were sending out electromagnetic pulses in addition to the missile strikes.

"I need to go to the surface," he said. "I can't stop the strikes if I can't get through on my net."

"Very well, sir."

They went through another maze before Jim reached a metal door. Before he opened it, Brady could feel the walls shaking from the missile strikes. He smelled the burning trees and metal when Jim opened the door and saw lasers streak through the skies.

"Tim," Brady said as soon as he stepped into the open. "Strikes due west of my last position."

"I know." Tim sounded frustrated. "I'm working on it. This is the kind of thing Lana could figure out. It's taking three so-called experts way too long to figure it out. And the damned comms are down east of the river. So-called experts can't fix that either."

Brady could picture the politician glowering at the three men he towered over. Jim closed the door behind him, and Brady stayed where he was for a long moment, watching the laser strikes. He calmly interjected himself with more drugs to supplement his waning strength then stripped out of the heavier weapons, opting for a knife and small laser gun.

"Angel, tell me you're alive over here," he said.

There was silence. He hid the rest of his weapons under some bushes near the entrance to the underground world and drew a deep breath.

"Brady."

Her voice was so faint, he thought he'd misheard. He held his breath, waiting for her to speak again.

"Brady, I'm here. I set up my micro to draw their fire. I shut down the satellites supporting comms on the East Coast, but it'll only take another two or three minutes before the backups on the sats are enabled."

He wiped his face. "Where are you?"

"Near a large rock."

"That doesn't help me."

"You can't miss it. But wait until-"