“Where are you going to be?” Mira asked.
“Figured I’d take the scenic route. Go by our imprisoned guests and then to the Transportal. Hit them from a different direction.”
“We can take care of this, Byron. No need in you getting involved.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t interfere unless it becomes necessary.”
“It won’t be,” Mira assured him.
“Good,” the mayor answered. “I’ll see you in a bit.” He began walking away.
Mira paused there a moment watching him go before turning to the waiting men. “Okay guys,” she began, “let’s go and get this over with.”
As they walked away James suddenly released a bit of bated breath that he hadn’t even realized that he was holding in.
“Ever seen a gun like that?” Bass whispered.
“No. Never.”
“Must be one of those alien ray gun,” he said, only half kidding.
“Guess so,” James answered not hearing the sarcastic tone in his voice. “Wonder where they’re going?”
“Probably something to do with this Agent Caine and her two companions.”
James nodded. “You know they’re heading the way we were going. Maybe we ought to take up behind them. See what they’re up to. I assume you still got the Taser you found over at the lab?”
“Of course. Don’t think the lady will be needing it any time soon. Seeing as how she and her partner are tied up at the moment.” He grinned thinking about how they had used shoestring and a bit of duct tape to secure the two lab workers. “Literally.”
“To continue. We catch up to the last man in line, and, if possible, we take him out without alerting the others. The Taser may be a good way to do that. Then we redirect him to some isolated spot and see what he’ll tell us.”
“Okay, but I think I’ve seen that old movie.”
“I’m sure you have, smart ass, now let’s go.”
James stood up, and with Bass right behind him, crept out of the shadows and into another short length of deep gray shadows that hugged the wall between overhead lights. James took a moment to inspect the movement of the group ahead of them. His plan wasn’t going to be as easy as he made it sound. The others were moving too quickly. He and Bass would have to dart from shadow to shadow to keep from revealing themselves. It would be much too slow. The best they could hope for would be that the group would stop for a moment or two.
There were doors on both sides of the hallway. And cameras. But James wasn’t concerned too much with the cameras. He believed that they had knocked all of them offline. But the doors. He was afraid that one of the doors would swing open at any moment and they would be discovered by someone exiting the room.
The first set of doors they slipped by were on their left. They were gray, metal doors. No windows to them. That was good. No chance of being seen by anyone that might be inside.
Up ahead the group had paused next to a set of double doors on their right. There was some conversation, but they were too far away for James or Bass to make out what was being said. There was even less chance that they could successfully rush over and snatch one of them for questioning.
The two agents came up to the next set of doors. These doors were composed mostly of heavy glass. James inched up to them and peered inside. It was semi-dark. Only a couple of small florescent lights were illuminated.
“Looks like a cafeteria,” Bass whispered, looking over his shoulder. “Don’t see anyone.”
“Good,” James answered, and rushed past the door to find the next shadowy spot. Bass came up beside him and flattened himself against the wall to make himself a bit more inconspicuous.
Up ahead the small band moved past the last set of double doors and closer to the rock wall. They continued, slowly moving away from the last set of overhead lights into deeper shadows. At once gray silhouettes cut to the right and one by one began to disappear.
“The hallway must bend to the right,” James began, “otherwise we’re dealing with spirits.”
“Either way I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
James nodded. “Welcome to the club.” He looked to Bass and smiled nervously. “Let’s go. I think our initiation is up ahead.”
They moved quickly down the hallway, not having to sneak past the doors. These doors were solid, wooden ones with no window cut into the structure. They finally stopped at the double doors where the others had paused. Up ahead of them another twenty feet was a single door. They hadn’t seen it from their previous position.
“What do you think?” James asked. “Did they go inside there?”
Bass slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so. Seemed like they walked a little further than that.”
The overhead lights ended at an area between the double doors and the single door leaving the further reaches increasingly darker.
“Why don’t we check out the rest of the corridor,” Bass suggested. “If we can’t figure out where they went then we double back.”
“Right,” James answered.
Both men readied their weapons and stepped cautiously forward. Bass had put up the Taser for now opting for the more powerful weapon.
They were only a few yards away from the wall before they could make out the break that cut sharply to the right. Reaching the corner, they found a narrow alleyway of perhaps four feet wide. A heavy blackness hung over a stretch of the alley for nearly thirty feet then was broken by several small lights moving slowly upward.
Flashlights.
“Where are they going?” Bass whispered.
“Got no idea.”
A thought suddenly struck James as his eyes followed the beams of light as they rose straight up then suddenly disappeared into the darkness.
“It’s a roof,” James said. The words came out a little louder than he intended. “I think we’re on the backside of a building.”
“What are they going to do on the roof?”
“Why would they go on top?”
“I haven’t got a clue.”
“Should we follow ...” Bass cut off his own words and pulled James down to the cave floor along with him.
A tremendous burst, like a compressed gale forced wind, roared at them. Because they had ducked the brunt of it went over their head but the outer portion of it caught them sending them tumbling back out of the alley tearing and slicing exposed skin as they rolled across the uneven surfaces of the unforgiving rock floor. When they had finally stopped, they had been pushed back nearly fifteen feet.
“Continue,” a woman’s voice said from somewhere in the alley. “I’ll take care of them.”
“How did you know?” James asked. If that blast would have hit us directly it might have killed us.”
“I saw a flash of yellow and for just a second the outline of a big gun. Probably that strange-looking gun we saw earlier. I figured someone was fixing to fire it. I just reacted. Now, can we get out of the line of fire?”
“By all means,” James answered as he jumped to his feet along with Bass. Together they dashed out of view of the alley, back down the corridor a bit, and into the first shadowy spot they could find. They propped against the wall with guns at the ready for anyone coming out of the alley gunning for them.
In the next few moments, an invisible weight began to settle heavily on James’ shoulder. He had already lost one man. The sorrow of the loss and the guilt that was associated with it momentarily overwhelmed him. He imagined that this was a hurt that would inevitably cut even deeper when this was all over. Provided they were to get out of here alive.
He had to shake himself, to push himself into action. It was too easy to hide here in the dark wallowing in guilt and sadness hoping that either their attackers would not come after them or that he and Bass could fight the others off.
It came to him at once. He felt certain he knew what they were up to. He pulled the map out of his pocket that the woman had drawn. “Yes,” he whispered to himself as he looked at the map. T
he single door across the corridor led to the morgue and some other office type rooms. Mira and her armed buddies were just above the ceiling. But why?
“Cover me,” James said.
“What?” Bass asked, surprised. “What are you fixing to do?”
“I’m going for the door.” He motioned to the single door across the corridor. “If you see that same flash of light shoot it.” After I’m safely on the other side of the hall you can dash toward me and I’ll cover you.”
Bass started to object, but before he could James had jumped up and pelted toward the door. He saw the yellow flash an instant later and fired into the darkness at that quick spot of light.
The yellow flash disappeared, but not before something burst out from that darkened area. As before it came out as a stream of hardened air. It grazed past James barely catching his upper back, but the force was enough to slam him the few feet into the wall just right of the door. He fell to the floor in a heap. It took him a few moments before he could push himself up to his knees fighting off a dark wave that threatened to drive him back down.
Seeing James go down Bass hopped to his feet and began running across the wide corridor. He hoped that his aim had been true, and he had hit whoever had fired that rather strange gun and that there would be no more shots forthcoming.
Not so. A second blast hit Bass like a sledgehammer. His feet came off the ground, and for an interminable time, he was flying before he slammed hard into the corridor wall. At that moment he felt a sharp pain in his chest and the air suddenly rushed from his lungs. He fell to the floor like an old rag doll.
From his position on his knees, James saw her rushing out of the shadows carrying the funny looking gun. She was racing toward Bass who had been thrown back across the hall, perhaps twenty feet from where he started his run.
James fell over on his right side. It was all he could think to do. All his body would allow. His body felt as stiff as a stick of lumber. Through eyes that wanted to close on him, he fired a shot at the approaching figure.
The woman fell in mid-stride. The strange-looking gun fell forward and slid several feet across the floor.
James suddenly dropped off the precipice of consciousness. It felt like a moment, but he couldn’t be certain. He came to when he heard someone shambling up behind him.
A hand reached down and weakly grasped James upper arm. He looked up at Bass. “Let me help you,” Bass breathed. Bass looked as though he could barely sustain his own weight let alone have the strength to pull James to his feet.
“I got it,” James said, and fought his way to his feet.
“Let’s get out of here,” Bass said. His voice was low and hoarse. He nodded his head toward the door.
“Yeah,” James answered.
The two men stumbled their way to the door. James more from having to support Bass’s unsteady gate than from his own faltering steps.
Bass looked toward the darkness not far from where he and Bass had just been only moments ago. He thought he had seen movement. A darker shape inside the shadows, but he couldn’t be sure.
James reached out a hand and began to pull the door open.
CHAPTER 38
She looked around the big room. It was quite a bit colder inside here than out in the hall. She guessed that it was not much above freezing.
There was a long, stainless steel table sitting in the center of the room. Metal cabinets stood off to her right against the wall. Straight ahead of her was a row of LED lights. Beside each light was the outline of a recessed metal shelve.
The room was a morgue. She shivered. It was more from realizing where she was than from the cold.
Candace backed out of the room and gently closed the door as though she were trying not to awaken the dead. Just as she shut the door a muffled gunshot came from somewhere past the hall door.
It was seconds later as she stepped into the center of the hallway that she heard a second gunshot and only seconds after that shot that the heavy air conditioning vent cover burst open above her head and fell. She heard it before she saw it and leaped out of the way just as it crashed into the concrete floor a foot away from her. She hit the floor with her shoulder as she jumped out of the way and her gun came loose sliding across the floor several feet away.
A man jumped from the ceiling and landed heavily on the floor near her feet. At the same time, he pointed a large pistol in her direction. An instant later another vent cover fell and another person dropped to the floor behind her sealing her means of escape.
Candace heard the door at her back open a moment later as did the gunman in front of her, because he temporarily took his eyes off of her and looked up toward the door.
She twisted around expecting to see more gunmen coming from the main corridor. Instead, she saw one man standing straight up, looking startled, helping support another man who slumped halfway in the doorway looking tired and beaten.
The other gunman (whom she was now facing) turned a second after she had. He hesitated for precious moments when he saw James holding up Bass. In that instant, James let go of Bass hoping he could stand on his own and rushed the gunman ramming his right shoulder into the man. Unfortunately, he was weak from his ordeal and only managed to knock him backward toward Candace.
He wasn’t going to fall. At least not without help. And Candace instinctively saw her opportunity. Just as the man came to a stop a foot in front of her she pulled her right leg up to her chest then kicked out hard, hitting the man’s left leg out from under him. His weapon fell from his grasp and he fell backward like a tree. He seemed about to crush her with his impact, but she brought her legs up quickly and caught his weight. Using his momentum, she pressed upward with her legs and threw him across her body and toward the other gunman.
The thrown man didn’t hit as well as she had hoped. He landed at the other man’s feet and rolled up against the man’s ankles merely causing him to momentarily stumble backward. He regained his balance almost instantly and raised his weapon toward Candace.
A sudden blast ricochet through the small corridor. The gunman reached for his neck as he fell backward hitting flat against the concrete floor.
Bass pushed the door closed behind him and stumbled toward her holding the freshly fired pistol in front of him.
We didn’t blow up was the first thought that entered Candace’s mind. Maybe this area was insulated from the fumes emanating out of the Transportal building as she first suspected. Then again, maybe they were just lucky this time.
“Someone’s coming,” Bass said in a weak, strained voice. I hear them outside the door.”
James grabbed Bass’s arm as he staggered over to him. At the same time, he kept his gun trained on the attackers. One had made his way to his knees. The other one, the one who had been shot by Bass, still lay unmoving on the floor.
“You all right?” James asked.
“Not exactly. My ribs hurt like hell. Feels like I’ve been kicked by a mule.” His stertorous breathing underscored his words.
Candace had stood up and was moving tentatively toward James and Bass.
“I’m James,” James said to her as she approached. “We’ve talked on the phone. And this is Bass. One of my best agents.”
“I think it’s her,” Bass breathed. “She’s coming. We have to be ready.”
James turned to look at the door that was now closed.
“Who?” Candace asked as she came up to them.
“The woman named Mira,” James answered.
At about the same time that the vent covers fell in the short hallway to the main corridor, vent covers fell in the control room as well. They hit close to Walter and Stone crashing into the floor with a dull, metal ‘clang’. Two armed men, wielding the same unique pistol, dropped to the floor from the ceiling.
Walter was at once startled and stunned, but only for a second. Quickly realizing what was going on he rushed the nearest man just as the man’s eyes met his. Walter drove his full weight at the man, coming a
t him like an angry bull. The man, however, was able to shift to one side, grasp Walter by the upper, arm and sling him past him. Walter stumbled and careened off to his left then slammed a big, meaty right shoulder into the block wall. He slid down to the floor face first groaning from the sudden pain that radiated from his freshly injured shoulder.
The other man came at Stone from behind as he sat before the computer. “Another minute,” Stone muttered, then suddenly lifted off the chair, but didn’t stand completely upright. He reached over his shoulder and grabbed the back of the chair with both hands. Very quickly he flipped the chair to the front of him, twisted around and flung the chair into the man coming at him from the rear. The wooden legs of the chair slammed into the man’s face and chest with enough force that it sent the man reeling backward. His arms went up and the gun broke free slipping across the floor. The man went down banging his back and head flat against the concrete floor.
The other man saw what Stone had done, took a quick look at Walter to make sure he was not a threat, and decided to deal with Stone himself.
The man raised his pistol. It seemed the best way to deal with this problem.
“Not yet,” Stone said, and, turning around quickly, darted off to the man’s left and close to the fallen man who was struggling to get back to his feet.
The man quickly swung the gun in Stone’s direction and fired. Stone was already dropping down to the floor as the bolt of compressed air flew over his head hitting the big window that looked out over the Transportal. The shot hit the window with a tremendous force that pushed the thick Plexiglas-like window outward like a huge bubble. At the same time, a great noise raged from the strike rumbling sonorously throughout the room. Cracks snaked around the frame supporting the window. Then the window snapped back into place nearly breaking free from its support.
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