He enlisted in the army as soon as he could. A mission given him by the High Priest. Andrade and Baez joined him when they were old enough. Hector took more educational qualifications and gained his stripes. He fought the Yankee’s wars for them. And now the day had arrived. To repay the gods.
Hector took a breath and watched two Yankee men and a Yankee woman walk past. His eyes roved over the blonde’s figure. Creatures like her were out of reach. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, pale-skinned. Hector smiled like a great white shark. Out of reach, yes, but when the gods brought their vengeance to this world, she would beg for her life like thousands of others.
With the image of the blonde woman on her knees at his feet, Hector said, “Let’s do this.”
The evening before, Corporal Daniel Andrade had visited the hospital, ostensibly to chat up one of the nurses who he had known for a few years. He ended up spending more time sitting behind the nurse’s station than in front of it, drinking coffee and telling tall tales of insurgents in Afghanistan. Andrade also managed to find out the hospital gossip. He disregarded the chat about which doctor was having an affair with which nurse, and how an amputee fell down the stairs while testing his new prosthetic limb. But he perked up when one nurse mentioned armed guards outside a room on the third floor. The nurse glanced around to make sure no-one could overhear them and told her audience that the little girl inside was witness to a murder, and this was the safest place to hide her.
Fifteen minutes later Andrade walked past the room and nodded hello to the men in suits who bracketed the door. By this time, it was mid-evening and the corridor quiet. He didn’t go back the same way, finding stairs that took him down to the ground floor. Andrade was back in Hector’s quarters thirty minutes later, and it only took an hour to finalise the plan to take out the guards and kill the girl in the room.
They took the stairs, Andrade leading as the other two hung back a little. The plan called for them to be spread out by the time they reached the room. Andrade and Antonio Baez would bracket the door, aiming to be ten yards or so ahead and behind. Hector took the role for shooting the guards. He was the oldest, the higher rank, and it was only right. At this time of the morning, the hospital was a lot busier. Medical staff, visitors and patients moved back and forth. Good cover in some ways. Hector thought that any security wouldn’t want to open fire in such a crowded place and the crowds might provide cover for an escape.
Daniel Andrade reached the third floor, glancing back to make eye contact with Hector. The Master Sergeant gave his friend a reassuring nod. Move on. No turning back.
***
Emily opened her eyes. She’d been sleeping. Dreaming of a dark place where souls screamed. Now she lay, bathed in light, as her angels came close. She looked into their eyes. Emily saw the warning. Saw their fear, and her skin ran cold.
“Mommy?”
Jane looked up from the magazine on her lap. The tone in Emily’s voice told her all she needed to know. The magazine hit the floor as Jane came up out of the chair. “What is it?”
Emily fought the constricting tie of the bedsheets. She needed to get out. To run. Her mom grabbed Emily’s arm.
“What is it?” Jane’s voice rose in fear. She knew that look on her daughter’s face.
“We have to go,” Emily said, kicking the last sheet free and swinging her legs out of bed. “Now.”
She dropped to the floor, barefoot, her tiger nightdress tangled up on her legs. Emily grabbed her mom’s hand and pulled her towards the door. The angels formed a shield around her, their golden haze so thick she could only just see the way out of the room. The cold floor stuck to the soles of her feet as Emily wrenched the door open and stumbled out into the corridor. The guards came awake as mother and daughter ran between them. Faces turned to look. Doctors and nurses. Men and women in uniform and civilian clothing. The angels seemed to pick her up, carrying Emily away from the room. She heard her mother shouting her name and one guard put a hand on her shoulder to stop her fleeing.
Jane pushed past the guard, was his name Luke?, and grasped Emily. “What’s wrong?”
“They’re coming.”
Her mom didn’t ask who, or what or when, she looked up at the two guards and said, “We need to get out of here?”
The men knew Emily’s psychic talent. If she said the jolly green giant was on his way, then they’d believe her. Luke and his partner turned to face the corridor. Everyone seemed frozen like statues as the guards reached for their concealed weapons.
Right in front of them, a soldier stared at Emily in horrified fascination. Emily saw his dark eyes shift and a cold terror draped over her.
A familiar voice reached out to them. “Jane! Jane, what’s wrong?”
Pete, off to their left, a couple of dozen yards away with Ben and Joanne flanking him. Heads turned towards him. The people in the corridor, her mom and the guards. But not Emily. And not the soldier. His hand slipped into his uniform and came out with a gun.
***
Pete Walsh spent most of the time to took to reach Emily’s room probing Ben and Kramer to find out how their romance progressed. Kramer took it in good heart, making jokes at Ben’s expense and Pete laughed at the way Ben tried to change the subject. It ended with the ex-cop turned author saying to Kramer, “When’s the big day?”
“So far away it’s out of sight,” she said, as they made the turn into the corridor containing Emily’s room.
“Hear that?” Pete nudged Ben. “She wants you to pop the question.”
“In these days of equality why can’t the woman ask?” Ben posed the question without thinking through the consequences.
Pete laughed, stopped walking so he no longer took the space between them, and said, “Seconds away, round one.”
“Hey, Scarrett,” Kramer said. “Beware of what you wish for. I might ask you to take a hike.”
“Aw, you don’t mean that.” Ben turned to Pete. “That’s what I like about her. Feisty.”
Pete put up his hands. “I’m staying out of this.”
A door banged open and brought the corridor to silence as everyone looked towards the source. Emily and Jane appeared. Ben saw the agitation in the little girl’s frame and tensed. He saw Kramer reach for her gun and did the same for his. Pete didn’t notice. He took a step forward and called out, “Jane! Jane, what’s wrong?”
A fraction of a second later Ben saw a uniformed guy draw a weapon.
“Gun!” Kramer’s scream beat Ben’s by a heartbeat. The sound of their voices echoed down the corridor. One of the bodyguards took a step forward. Ben saw the soldier level his pistol and fire.
In the next second all hell broke loose.
***
Time slowed.
Emily saw the golden haze of her angels descend. Into it stepped Luke. Putting his body between the gunman and Emily. She heard the shot; it beat upon her eardrums in the same instant that the round burst through Luke’s body. As the guard fell an angel vanished into a shower of golden stars, the bullet absorbed by his form. The second guard didn’t have time to pull his gun. He jumped onto the soldier, pushing his weapon down, so the next round blew a hole in the floor.
Jane grabbed Emily, pushing her away from the gunman. Emily looked back towards Pete and saw him running. Behind him, Ben and Joanne, and behind them a huge soldier who pulled another gun and aimed straight down the corridor at her.
“Run!” Her mom’s voice followed by a shove that made her stagger and fall. More gunfire. Emily saw a nurse thrown against a wall. She slid to the floor, leaving a wide smear of blood in her wake. Screams filled the air. The rapid blam-blam-blam of gunshots. Emily didn’t turn. She heard her mom screaming ‘run, Emily, run’ and so she ran, nightdress flapping as she searched for an escape route.
A boy appeared, dark-skinned, beckoning her towards a door. Emily ran at Connor, the air around her as cold as ice. A hand snatched at her hair, tangling in it for a moment to make her stagger. She looked back and saw the soldier
reaching out to her as he brought the gun in his other hand around to aim at her. Connor and an angel fell upon her, squeezing Emily to the ground. The gun blast deafened her, but the bullet missed Emily and buried itself into the wall. On all fours, Emily scrambled away as another stray bullet smashed down a doctor wearing scrubs.
Connor came to her side. He lifted her with a force she didn’t understand as the angels formed a shield. The soldier screamed as the second guard shot him twice in the back. Connor and Emily ran. She smashed through a door and found herself in a storeroom. Racks of folded bed linen filled her vision and formed a narrow, confined space. Nothing more than a trap. Emily turned, pulling the door open to reveal a corridor full of screaming people and gunfire. Connor dragged her back. “Stay with me,” he said into her ear.
Emily wanted to, but another, stronger force made her look out and find her mom.
***
A big guy in urban warfare camouflage filled Ben’s vision as he ran towards Emily and Jane. The soldier seemed frozen to the spot as a brief struggle took place ahead of them before Luke got gunned down. Ben pushed past, Kramer going the other side of the big guy with Pete on her heels. Ben saw Emily run, and Luke’s partner, Chris, shoot the first soldier in the back.
Blam-blam-blam.
Ben almost screamed. Three shots from close behind him. Pete Walsh went down, his movement taking Kramer with him. More shots and Chris fell, his white shirt torn and red. A doctor hit the floor as Ben dived into an open doorway. He clawed around on the polished floor as the huge soldier ran past.
What the fuck is going on?
Ben stuck his head out long enough to see a third soldier coming up. He held a gun out in a two-handed grip like he thought he knew what he was doing. Ben had a second to think about it. He saw Kramer pushing Pete off as she tried to rise. Soldier Three aimed at her.
Ben put two rounds into his chest and a third into his head as he fell. Out in the corridor, Kramer had a hand on Pete’s chest, but he pushed her off, trying to rise.
Kramer saw Ben looking and said, “He’s winged.”
Ben scuttled out and knelt next to them. Soldier Two, the big guy, had disappeared. Now that the gunfire had ended a siren kicked in followed by a recorded voice instructing the facility to go into lockdown.
“Emily,” Pete said, through gritted teeth.
Ben and Kramer exchanged a ‘here-we-go-again’ look before Kramer said, “Cover me.”
They took the either side of the corridor. Kramer stepped over bodies as Ben watched all the way down to where a group of medical staff were pushing their way into a room to leave his view clear. Kramer paused by each of the bodies to make sure. She glanced up at him and shook her head. All dead. Ben moved forward. “Where are Jane and Emily?” he asked.
Before Kramer could answer, they both heard a muted gunshot. Ben led her in a careful advance far enough to see a double door that opened into a stairwell. A single reinforced pane of glass let Ben take a quick peek through to the landing. “Clear,” he said.
Kramer gave him a grim smile. “After you,” she said.
Ben pushed the door open and slid through. He looked up and down. Out here the siren sounded louder, covering any other noise. Ben let Kramer through before he stepped across to the railing that formed a barrier around the open space of the stairwell. He looked up. Nothing. Looked down and caught a glimpse of movement. He pointed. Kramer nodded.
They started down.
***
Emily never saw her mom until Jane plucked her from her feet and carried her pell-mell along the corridor. Behind them, Emily could hear screams and shouts but could see nothing but her mom’s light red hair as Jane ran away from the gunmen. They slammed into a door and almost fell as Jane stumbled into a stairwell. She dropped Emily, tears on her face. “They shot Pete.” Jane wiped her face dry.
Emily held her mom’s hand. She sensed the danger coming again. A darkness edged in red filled the corners of her vision. “Mom? We have to run.”
“Where?” Jane’s voice rose in fear. “Everywhere we go people try to kill you.”
“As far away as we can,” Emily said.
Jane almost laughed, but it turned into a sob. She took a breath to calm herself and said, “We go down. At least we can get out that way.”
They ran, Emily barefoot on the cold, concrete steps and caught in the maelstrom of noise from the emergency siren. Jane took the stairs two at a time, dragging Emily with her. They heard the bang of the door above them as the killers came in pursuit. Another landing appeared, another sharp turn that made Emily giddy as her mom pulled harder and shouted ‘run, run’ above the siren.
Emily stumbled on the next turn, grazing her knees as she hit the floor. She lost touch with her mom and Jane seemed to run on, unaware that Emily now lay in a heap, staring up the open central column of the stairwell into the dark, dark eyes of a soldier. He pointed at her and Emily knew on instinct that he held a gun. She rolled as he fired and the bullet ricocheted away off the concrete. Emily heard her mom scream. Another glance up. Emily saw him coming after them. He came in big bounds, covering half-a-dozen steps and seeming to fly after them. Emily came to her feet, her knees bloody and aching. Jane stared at her, wild-eyed. Emily ran to her and Jane grabbed her hand again.
Another set of concrete steps but this time, on the wall that faced them, hung a big arrow and the word ‘Exit’. Emily heard Jane shout in triumph as if they’d crossed the finishing line. But behind them, the killer came closer. Emily could see his shadow on the wall and hear his footsteps as he jumped to the final landing.
They ran through the doors into a wide-open space of the entrance foyer. To their right, Emily saw bright and beautiful daylight spilling in through glass doors and windows. A group of men huddled together ahead of them. Soldiers. All armed with assault rifles. Getting a briefing before they went in search of the shooters. Well, guess what? One of them is on his way to find you.
“Help!” Jane dragged Emily towards them. “Help us!”
The soldiers scattered. Sensing the terror in Jane’s voice. Emily looked over her shoulder, saw the door burst open, and the killer appear. “Mom.”
Jane turned and saw him. She twisted again to throw Emily at the soldiers. Emily stumbled and fell. She rolled once, coming to a halt as she looked back at her mom. Jane stood between Emily and the gunman, arms outstretched as if to form a barrier. The soldier didn’t care. He aimed and fired.
Time stood still.
***
Jane couldn’t breathe. A huge weight lay upon her chest, crushing the air from her lungs and forcing her heart into a stuttering rhythm that made her body jump. She didn’t quite know what she was looking at; a series of circles and squares lit from within. Clouds? Maybe that was right because she heard the sound of thunder ripping through the air.
I still can’t breathe.
She tried to take air into her lungs but nothing happened apart from pain, that rose like a volcanic eruption and sent fire streaming into every fibre of her being.
No. Oh, God, no.
A hot, thick, salty liquid filled Jane’s mouth. She spat it out but more came, filling her throat. Darkness edged her vision. She tried to run and felt her heels drum uselessly on the tiled floor. Shadows surrounded her. Sound assaulted her. Men’s voices. Emily screaming. Jane wanted to hold her daughter, comfort her. She couldn’t.
Oh, dear God, please, I don’t want to leave Emily.
Jane saw the end coming as a dark wave and wept as it engulfed her.
***
Ben heard the thunder for what it was. Assault rifles on full automatic. He and Kramer were getting to the final flight of steps, but the sound brought them to a halt.
“Holy shit,” Kramer said, as the gunfire ended.
“Let’s hope the bad guy got it.” Ben leaned on the handrail, his chest burning from the mad sprint down the stairway.
Kramer moved on, and he followed. Taking the last dozen steps in what felt
like one leap. She wrenched a door open and then jumped back as a dozen rifles aimed at her and voices shouted ‘down, down, down’. She kept the door half open with one foot and put a hand through the gap, somehow now holding her ID. “Homeland Security,” she shouted. “Homeland Security.”
“You armed?” a voice bellowed back. Had to be a sergeant, Ben thought.
“Yes. Two of us.”
“Come out; guns aimed down.”
They went out. It looked like the whole army had squeezed into the open area. Dozens of armed soldiers in full battle dress were moving into the hospital to make it safe. Near the door, Ben saw the huge soldier, now not so big with much of his flesh ripped away by high-velocity rounds. Ben stepped around him, trying not to look at what remained of the guy’s head.
“Oh, no.” Kramer stopped walking, and Ben bumped into her. He looked over her shoulder. A body lay ahead of them, and from the way the army medics were standing, Ben knew there was nothing they could do.
A little girl knelt beside the body in a lake of blood, her nightdress soaked in the dark liquid. Ben pushed past Kramer and walked to Emily. He picked her up, and as she buried her face in his shoulder he carried her out into the warm sunlight. Army vehicles clustered close to the entrance and more troops were double-timing up the approach road. Ben found a patch of grass to sit on and cradled Emily as she began to cry. A medic came over with a Mylar blanket, the surface reflecting the sun in bright flashes, and wrapped it around Ben and Emily. A couple of officers saw the blood on Emily’s nightdress and put a squad of soldiers to guard them. Ben stared at nothing, his head full of noise.
Kramer came out of the hospital. Ben didn’t need to ask. All she did was shake her head as she came over to sit next to Ben and Emily and lean against them.
The Tomb (Scarrett & Kramer Book 3) Page 16
