Extinction Game by Gary Gibson Page A

slam, and the soldiers suddenly sprang back into action, briskly guiding me around a corner and into the police station’s foyer.
    Barely a second after I had sat down on a bench, Greenbrooke came charging out of the cell block, striding past without paying me the slightest heed. I watched as he continued straight out
through the front entrance, his fellow Patriot agent hurrying to keep up.
    Bramnik and his own companion were next to emerge, talking quietly with each other. ‘You two wait for me outside,’ Bramnik said to the two soldiers. They saluted and left.
‘Kip, I’ll be right out.’
    Kip nodded and headed out into the sunshine. I remembered Nadia telling me Bramnik’s second-in-command was named Kip Mayer.
    ‘Some advice,’ Bramnik said to me once we were alone. ‘I like Nadia a lot. But she tends to be . . .’ He waggled a hand in the air. ‘. . . a little
strong-willed
at times – put it that way.’
    I nodded, unsure what to say.
    Bramnik took a seat beside me on the bench, legs splayed and hands locked together before him. ‘Just do us all a favour the next time anything like this happens while you’re around,
and see if you can talk her out of making a bad situation worse. That’s all I ask.’
    I looked round at him. ‘Mind if I ask you something?’
    ‘Shoot.’
    ‘Has anyone – I mean, any of the Pathfinders – been sent back to where they came from for screwing up? Has that ever happened?’
    A furrow formed between Bramnik’s eyebrows. ‘Did Greenbrooke make some kind of threat?’
    ‘If you mean, did he offer to ship me straight back to my home parallel, then yes.’
    Bramnik’s expression hardened and he stared out of the door to where we could see the two Patriot agents getting into a jeep.
    ‘I want you to understand something.’ Bramnik’s voice was taut with anger. ‘What I said back there is true. The Patriots don’t have any jurisdiction here. And we
have
never
sent anyone “back where they came from”.’
    I nodded, relieved. ‘What about Nadia and Rozalia? Aren’t you going to let them out?’
    ‘I already took care of that,’ said Bramnik. He stood. ‘What you and Miss Mirkowsky did yesterday was very brave, but it’s not easy for me to protect you unless
you’re right here on the island. Anywhere else, and you’re technically out of my jurisdiction. Got that?’
    ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘I’ll remember.’
    Bramnik made for the door, beckoning to me to follow. We stepped outside, and I saw that Greenbrooke and his aide were gone. The two soldiers waited with Kip Mayer next to a parked BMW that
looked like a well-preserved antique. I saw Yuichi waiting with them also, dressed in blue denim and scuffed cowboy boots, a bandana around his forehead.
    ‘Hey, jailbird,’ he said with a grin as I came up beside him. Bramnik meanwhile stepped over to Mayer, conferring quietly with him while the two soldiers got in the front of the BMW.
‘I hear they let you out early for good behaviour.’
    ‘What happened to Nadia and Rozalia?’
    ‘They’re over at the Hotel du Mauna Loa getting a late breakfast. Bramnik asked me to come fetch you.’
    ‘Commander Bramnik,’ I called past Yuichi’s shoulder. ‘Can I ask just one more question?’
    Bramnik turned to look at me.
    ‘Why is it,’ I asked, ‘you don’t want us to know who the Authority are, or where they come from?’
    Beside me, Yuichi had become completely still, as if he was holding his breath.
    Bramnik’s expression, as he gazed back, was as solid and unmoving as any of the statues dotting the island. ‘We all deserve more answers than we can find, Mr Beche,’ he said
finally, then climbed in the rear of the BMW. I watched as they drove away.
    ‘What the hell did that mean?’ I asked Yuichi.
    ‘Beats me,’ he said, reaching up to adjust his bandana. ‘Nice of them to offer us a lift back into town.’
    ‘None of this,’ I said, ‘needed to happen.’ I told him what Greenbrooke had