“So you’re going to the police?” Carina asked.
“Of course. I think this is bigger than any of us can imagine.”
“What about those patient files you came here looking for?”
“Oh.” Julia turned back to the storage room. Her face was a web of uncertainty. “It is pretty important I get those files to the other hospital.”
“You get those,” I said. “We have to go.”
“Now, wait a minute,” the older woman said. “I can’t just let you two kids wander around the city alone with the way things are now.”
“We can take care of ourselves,” I insisted.
“I don’t think that’s—”
“We got here by ourselves, didn’t we?” I said, my temperature rising. “We were the ones figuring out exactly what’s going on, weren’t we?”
“I can’t possibly let you go off alone. You’re only what? Seventeen?”
“Sixteen,” I said in a tone I hoped would indicate we were more than old enough to care for ourselves.
“See,” she said.
“Take the credit for figuring it out yourself if you want,” I snapped.
“Conor,” Carina said.
“That’s not what I wanted,” Julia said. “I just want to make sure you two are safe.”
“Oh, we’ll be fine.” I forced a tight smile.
She opened her mouth to argue more, but a boom from overhead cut her off. The sound rolled and echoed down the halls and stairwells. The vibrations from it knocked dust loose from the ceiling. It settled over us like a light snow.
“What was that?” Carina asked, fear tightening her voice.
Chapter 30
1:50 a.m.
We stood in silence, listening for any other noises. We heard nothing other than the sounds of our own breathing. There was no doubt what it was, but none of us wanted to say exactly what we thought.
“Was that…” Carina started but trailed off before finishing the question.
An explosion. If that’s what it was, I didn’t want to get caught two stories below ground if there was going to be more.
“We should get out of here,” I suggested.
“What was that?” Carina asked again. I think she knew but didn’t want to admit it to herself.
“Let’s not stick around to find out,” I said.
“I agree,” Julia said.
Carina and Julia killed their lights. I cupped my hand over mine like I had earlier and we headed for the door leading to the stairs. I eased the handle down and cracked it open a bit, trying to see the stairs without shining light into the stairwell.
Julia touched my shoulder. “Maybe I should go first.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You two are just kids,” she replied.
Carina and I shared a glance. “I think we’ll be okay,” I said.
“Really, if somebody is up there, I think it’s best they see me first, not two kids roaming the halls of a trashed hospital.”
She had a point there. It was kids our age going crazy all over the city, after all. Carina and I were better equipped to protect ourselves, though.
“Look, Julia,” Carina started, “it’s great that you came back here to help your patients. I bet it took a lot of courage after what you witnessed here, but I really think you should let Conor go first. Really.”
She glanced between us. Reading her was hard in the dim light. I thought maybe she had come to trust we weren’t like those punks out wreaking havoc for chaos’ sake. She had brought us down here and told us what she had found with that kid who shot me. Still, would she trust us enough to go along with letting us go first without an explanation? How would we even begin to explain?
Well, you see, Carina here, she can make her skin as hard as stone. And me? It’s hard to describe, but you should hear what our friend can do with sound waves.
The squelch of a radio echoed down the stairwell, cutting the argument short. I flicked off the flashlight, plunging us into complete darkness, causing a bit of vertigo.
I took a step through the doorway, sliding my foot along the tile to keep from banging my shins on something even though I knew there was nothing out there except the stairs a few feet away. Julia kept her hand on my shoulder as we moved out of the hallway. I stepped aside until I felt both girls pass and eased the door shut. We stood in the dark, straining to hear any other sound.
All was quiet for long moments until I caught a faint shuffling sound. Julia’s grip on my shoulder tightened. She had heard it, too. I fumbled to find the door handle again. If they were coming down, and that was my best bet, judging by the increasing volume of footsteps on metal stairs, we needed more room to move than at the bottom of the stairwell.
Before I could find the handle, the footsteps stopped a floor above us. There was creaking and clicking, then one of them opened the door to the basement hallway. The hinges let out a tiny grunt of protest before giving way to its job. There was a quick shuffling of feet and the door clicked shut a moment later.
“Let’s go,” Carina breathed.
I shoved my palm as tight as I could against the head of the flashlight and flicked it on, leaving a slight red glow of the light on my skin before I let the tiniest sliver of light free. It was just enough to find the first step. We shuffled to it and once we were all on the stairs, I turned the light off, relying on the regularity of the stairs and the hand rail to guide us up.
I fought the urge to run up the steps two at a time. Instead, I moved slowly so none of us were separated. Anyway, knowing my luck, I’d probably trip and bash my knee on a metal step.
There was a sense of urgency, though. It wouldn’t take those men long to search the basement.
We reached the next landing up and I slid my foot across the floor until my toes bumped against the next set of stairs. We quietly edged our way up until we came to the basement landing.
Julia’s fist twisted a length of my shirt to stop me. “What if those are Sterling guys?” she whispered.
“Shh,” Carina hissed.
“It’s not like when the kids attacked,” she insisted, her voice rising a bit.
There was no doubt in my mind that those were Sterling guys and that wasn’t a good thing. We didn’t have time to explain to her exactly how meeting up with the fine Sterling folks would not be to our benefit.
“Let’s just get out of here,” I said. I pulled her onto the next set of stairs before she had time to really think about it. In her mind, Sterling was the hero of the story. They’re the ones who helped evacuate the hospital after chasing off the teens who were in the process of destroying…
The thought slipped from my mind as another bullied its way in and I stopped with my foot on the first step. She had said Sterling had run off the kids. How? From my experience with them, they were relentless. I didn’t think a few guys waving guns around would scare off a pack large enough to cause widespread destruction in a multilevel hospital. They were fearless. Well, mostly fearless. Only the appearance of Carina’s dad had caused them to flee. Had he been at the hospital this whole time? The thought made my heart pop up into my throat.
No, I told myself. These were Sterling men. If Marc was here, he’d be causing more havoc than the teens had earlier. That still didn’t explain how Sterling Securities was able to fend off the attackers.
“What is it?” Carina stepped next to Julia and I felt her hand touch my side before it moved up to find my arm.
“I’ll tell you later,” I whispered.
We made it to the first-floor landing before we heard the protesting basement door open. We froze and huddled against a cement wall, listening to the sounds of the men spilling into the stairwell. There were more scuffling of boots on the landing below before they descended further down to the sub-basement.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I ran my hand on the door until I found the handle. Pulling it down, I eased the door open and led the way through.
“Should I risk light?�
�� I made it two steps into the first-floor hallway before I went blind.
Chapter 31
2:37 a.m.
I swung an arm up to block my eyes from the light. After spending the past few minutes in near total darkness, the sudden onslaught rendered me, for all intents and purposes, blind.
“Stop and get on the floor!” a harsh voice boomed in the hallway.
I took a step back, trying to go back through the doorway, but Carina and Julia blocked the way.
“Get on the floor now!”
“Ge’down,” another voice yelled over the other with a strong southern accent.
I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I guessed Carina was the rock part of that saying.
Either way, I wasn’t about to follow directions, but there was nowhere for me to go. I didn’t dare rush them. I’d probably earn a few new bullet holes to go with the one that had finally healed in my shoulder. I also had Julia to think about. I knew Carina would be fine, but the nurse had no protection against the slugs ripping through her body. I could at least heal pretty quickly if I survived long enough.
“Ge’down now, boy, or we shoot!”
“She-oot? What’s a she-oot?” It might have been inappropriate at the time, but there was something in the man’s accent that I found funny.
“We ain’t messin’ around,” he yelled louder.
“Not now,” Carina hissed behind me.
“Get down on the ground!” the other, more gravelly voice commanded.
I tried to squint around my arm, but couldn’t make out anything. One or both or more of them were shining their lights right in my face.
“We’ll give you ‘til the count o’ three,” Southern Boy yelled.
“Wait!” Julia slipped past me. I reached to grab her arm but missed. “These kids haven’t done anything. They’re not like the others.”
“Get down on the ground, ma’am,” the first with Batman’s voice said.
“I work here,” Julia said.
“Julia...” I said.
The lights were bouncing around everywhere in the hall. Definitely more than two. They swung their flashlights back and forth between Julia, who was approaching them, and Carina and me. They knew we were the obvious threats.
“Get down!” Batman Voice said.
“I’m a nurse,” Julia insisted. “These kids are with me.”
A sharp sound echoed through the hall. In an instant, I felt my stomach drop. It was like a dead weight had settled in the hallway, weighing everything down.
“Julia!” Carina cried out from behind me.
In the swinging lights, I saw Julia’s head snap to the side and she spun where she stood like everything moved in slow motion. Then I saw the closest man’s arm outstretched. It hadn’t been a gunshot like I thought. He had backhanded her.
Time seemed to resume as I burst into motion in the momentary distraction of the strike. With Julia heading for the floor and out of the way, I knew Carina would already have her stone skin on, so I decided this encounter needed to come to an end.
I took two steps and threw myself to the floor where I slid out of the light beams.
“Freeze!” Batman Voice yelled. He was the closest, the one who had struck Julia.
I slid on my knees right up to him. I launched to my feet, grabbed the barrel of this gun and jerked it to the ceiling. I jammed the palm of my free hand into his face. His head snapped back and his knees buckled. I grabbed his body armor by the collar and lifted him off his feet.
“The door, Carina,” I yelled as I slammed Batman Voice into the nearest guy and drove them both hard into the wall.
Drywall gave under the pressure and they both dropped to the floor, their flashlights sending light all around the hallway. I glanced at Carina as she closed the door to the stairs. No doubt the men below had heard the commotion.
I spun toward the next guy, slapping his rifle’s barrel away just as it discharged. The round dug into the wall beside me. If the men in the basements hadn’t heard all the yelling, they would have no doubt heard the gunshot. I let momentum spin me in a circle. I kicked a foot out and swept the man’s feet out from under him. Grabbing the gun barrel, I jabbed the rifle down at him. The gun stock rammed into his face. He went limp.
I turned to the last man that I could see in the half light, half dark of the hall. He stood several yards away, his gun aim right at me.
“Stop right there. Now!” he yelled. By the way he said ri-aight, I figured he was our southerner.
I glanced at Carina who stood watch by the door.
“They’re coming,” she said.
I turned back to Southern Boy. “Listen, if you want to go ahead and run, nobody will blame you.” I took a step toward him, squaring my chest. I made a nice, neat target from him.
“Stop!” he yelled.
“I’m telling you now, save yourself a lot of pain and run now.”
“How ‘bout I jus’ kill you and the girl, ya’ll freaks,” he growled.
“Have it your way,” I said with a shrug.
The metal pipe rang out with a clang as it slammed into the back of his skull. I knew exactly how that felt, having been on the receiving end of one of those blows from Julia, but I didn’t have the time to feel sorry for him. I crossed the distance between us in an instant before he had a chance to tip forward. I grabbed the collar of his body arm and the belt at his waist.
“Carina, door!”
I snatched the man off the ground, spun and ran at the door just as she opened it. The men on the other side were surprised at the sudden disappearance of the door they were about to burst through. It was replaced by a black-clad body flying at them.
Southern Boy became a riot shield of sorts as I rammed him into them. The three of them flipping over the railing and tumbling down the stairs. I tossed my riot shield over with them and turned on a fourth man who had been standing slightly to the side. A well-placed punch snapped his head back and he dropped.
I hurried back into the hallway as Carina closed the door behind me. “Bar, Julia.” I held up a hand and she tossed it to me. I jammed the slightly bent piece of metal under the handle, wedging it against a floor tile. It wouldn’t hold under much pressure, but I hoped it would slow them down at least a little when they regained their senses after their tumble down the stairs.
I turned to the girls. “Let’s get out of there.”
“What are you?” Julia breathed. I could just make out her wide eyes in the scattered light.
Another explosion sounded, vibrating the whole building and sending dust down on us. It sounded like it came from several floors overhead.
“No time,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Carina moved first. Julia reached out to stop her as she passed, but Carina pulled away before the nurse could touch her. She no doubt wanted to keep her rock hard skin a secret in spite of my little display.
I followed, pausing by Julia. “C’mon. That won’t hold them long.”
She nodded and followed. We ran down the hall toward the E.R. entrance. We paused at the door to peer out into the night. Our Hummer sat where we left it. The path to it seemed clear.
“Let’s go.” I started out the door, but Carina grabbed my arm.
“I’ll go first,” she said.
I was about to object but felt her rock-like hand on my skin. If there was anybody hiding out there, they’d shoot her first. I nodded.
“Do you think letting her go out there is smart?” Julia asked. “There could be more out there.”
“That’s the idea,” I said. She looked confused, but I held a finger to my lips.
Carina slipped out the open doors and jogged to the Hummer. She looked around a moment before turning back and waving us forward.
“You came in that?” Julia asked.
“It’s borrowed.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her quickly across to the SUV. We paused at the driver side door.
“Who were they?” Julia asked. “It was hard t
o tell in the dark, but their uniforms looked like Sterling Securities.”
“That’s exactly who they are,” Carina said.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Julia said.
“Not much is making sense nowadays,” I commented. “But, they were definitely Sterling. That’s who we borrowed this from.”
It took a moment to sink in as Julia looked from me to the Hummer and back. Even in the dark, I could see the realization dawn in her widening eyes. “You stole this from Sterling?”
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