by Nick Thacker
Julie had quickly opened three of the cabinets along the bottom row and — luckily for Julie — they were empty. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if all of the sliding containers had been filled. Not only would they once again be in the line of fire from the Ravenshadow guards, she would have to face the cold, dead bodies inside the cabinets.
Her mind had flashed to a similar moment in Antarctica, when her team had discovered row after row, floor to ceiling, of humans in cabinets. That room hadn’t been a morgue, however, and those humans were not being stored in anticipation of a mortician’s scalpel.
Susan was wary about lying down in the cabinet, but Julie and Sarah had persuaded her that it was the only choice. The Subshuttle had been docked at that entrance, the doors had slid open, and Julie had dashed in and back out of the anteroom after pressing the ‘departure’ button. She had just enough time to insert herself into her own empty cabinet when the guards made it into the room. Julie had anticipated not being able to get back out, so she’d made sure to leave a small crack open when she’d shut herself in, hoping that the guards wouldn’t notice.
She could hear their voices cutting through the silence.
“They’re on the shuttle,” one of them said.
“Call it in,” the other responded.
“We’ve got confirmation,” the first voice said. “They’re on the Subshuttle at Sub-1, backside. Should be fifteen minutes before approach to the front. Can we assemble a team there?”
A pause.
“Confirmed, yes. We will make our way around. Out.”
Julie let out a breath, waited more, and then heard the sound of their boots clanking along the metal floor of the morgue segment to the opposite entrance. The guard called in his location and asked for the door to be opened, and Julie listened to the sounds of the men leaving the room and the door sliding shut once again.
She let out a larger breath. Thank God.
She waited a few more seconds to be sure, then pushed her cabinet back out on its rollers. It took some maneuvering but she slid up and out of the drawer and back onto the cold, hard floor. She immediately pressed open the next drawer and helped Susan out of her cabinet.
“Did they buy it?” Susan asked.
Julie shrugged as she moved to help Dr. Lindgren. “So far, I guess. They’ll figure it out soon, though, so we should probably think up a better plan than ‘wait around here.’”
“Agreed,” Sarah said as her cabinet slid open. “Any ideas?”
Julie looked at Susan. “You know of any way up or down a level, without using the elevators?”
Susan looked at her like she was crazy. “Yeah, of course.”
Sarah and Julie stared at her.
“The stairs, obviously.”
42
REGGIE KNEW THE HAWK WOULD know about his mens’ deaths soon enough, if he didn’t already. He’d seen cameras just about everywhere in this central ring, in every hallway and public room, save for the restrooms and Crawford’s office.
While he hadn’t seen any in the elevator, he hadn’t been able to get a close look, and many times the cameras inside elevators were far more subtle than the typical closed-circuit monstrosities mounted above doors and windows. Somewhere on the control panel, perhaps, or even hidden between the cracks in the decoupage-style ceiling.
It didn’t matter. They were outlaws now, on the move. If The Hawk’s men weren’t already on a shoot-to-kill mandate, they would be now. There would be no scheming, no stopping to plan, no thoughtful posturing.
They were at war.
Crawford and The Hawk were at the top of his list, followed by the rest of the guards and soldiers-for-hire Garza had brought along. Finally, if there was time and it proved necessary, all the scientists who had participated in the research.
Before any of that could happen, however, they had a simpler mission: find Julie and Dr. Lindgren, and get them to safety. Julie at least would force them to let her fight with them, and Reggie knew she would be an asset. But that didn’t preclude the fact that they were his teammates, and they could be in danger right now. He needed to find them, then figure out what to do next.
Besides, there would be no arguing with Ben, and he would be focused only on finding Julie.
“They’re at the Subshuttle entrance,” Ben said, proving him right. “We’re going to go down there and find them.”
Reggie nodded. “Not arguing with you, pal. But which shuttle? There are more than one, remember?”
“We’ll start with Sublevel 1, then,” Ben said. “That makes most sense anyway. Post up outside the doors and wait for it to open, then shoot anything that moves unless it’s Julie or Sarah.”
Reggie smiled. “A bit rash, perhaps, but I like it.”
They had removed the weapons and extra ammunition from the guards, and Reggie had been slightly disappointed to learn that the Ravenshadow guards around here were packing light. No sidearm, no combat knives, and no vest.
He’d learned about the latter characteristic when he’d shot the second guard, aiming at his chest. The rounds would have knocked him out from that range if he’d been wearing body armor, but instead they punched right through his rib cage, lungs, and probably lodged somewhere near the back of his torso. The coroner around here would have a heyday with the jumbled remains of the guy’s guts.
Reggie’s only regret was that he’d put the big man down so quickly. These Ravenshadow guys deserved long, slow deaths, no matter how new to The Hawk’s crew they were. By the time they’d successfully completed The Gauntlet, interviewed with The Hawk, and participated in a few missions, they knew all about the less-than-reputable type of operations The Hawk threw them into.
There was no excuse for any of them, and that was all the justification Reggie needed.
“Let’s at least take a second to make sure there aren’t any civilians inside,” he said. “Those investors, or whoever they are, are in the hotel somewhere too.”
“Fine,” Ben said. “But if I see another Ravenshadow ass—”
“I know,” Reggie. “Trust me, brother, I know. They’re dead. All of them.”
The elevator reached its destination, and Reggie and Ben stepped over the dead bodies inside the car and out into the hallway, each man taking a position facing opposite directions.
“Clear,” Reggie said.
“Clear,” Ben responded.
Reggie walked to the left, aimed down the curving hallway, then stopped in front of a set of doors. “This is the antechamber,” he said. “Should be opening when the shuttle’s here.”
“Perfect,” Ben said. “Let’s wait down the way a bit. Should we split up?”
Reggie shook his head. “No, we’re stronger together. And I don’t want us to get separated. You watch my back, though, and I’ll keep a bead on the shuttle doors.”
“Sounds good,” Ben said. He knew Ben wouldn’t argue with that command, either. Reggie was a sharpshooter, and even though these lightweight subcompacts were far from the heavy-duty snipers he was used to lugging around, he could probably still shoot the head off a cockroach from across the hallway with it.
Ben kneeled with his back to Reggie’s. Reggie took the downtime to get a bearing on their surroundings. This hallway looked exactly like the one directly above, with two elevators emptying out in a wide, curving stretch of hotel lobby. The difference here was the Subshuttle entrance, and Reggie noticed now two sets of stairs, farther apart than the two elevators, but across the hall from them.
There were two unmarked doors, but they were single, hollow-core doors that appeared to be simple closets.
Finally, there were two sets of restrooms — men’s and women’s — just outside the sets of stairs.
It was unlikely there would be any soldiers bursting out from the restrooms and storage closets, but that still left the curve of the hallway on both sides of their location, the stairs, and the elevator. At least with the elevator they would be alerted to its motion by the dinging
arrow as it lit up, announcing its arrival.
Still, a lot to be cognizant of.
“We’d be better off in the stairs,” Reggie said.
“Agreed. There’s a lot to aim at up here,” Ben said.
Reggie gave him a nod, and Ben bolted across the hall and swung the heavy, wide door that led to the stairwell open. He stepped in, aimed down the stairs and over the ledge, then turned and nodded to Reggie.
Reggie ran into the stairs, making sure the door stayed open. It would mark their position if any guards strolled down the hallway, but it would also give them the upper hand if anyone did step out of the Subshuttle.
“You got the stairs?” Reggie asked.
“Affirmative. You got the shuttle?”
“Couldn’t miss it if I tried, friend.”
“Well do your best to not shoot my fiancée,” Ben said.
There was not more time to chat, for as soon as the words left Ben’s mouth Reggie saw a light above the Subshuttle antechamber illuminate.
“They’re here,” he said.
Ben didn’t say anything.
“If I start shooting, forget the stairs and help me clear the antechamber.”
“You got it.”
The doors opened. Slowly. Unlike the elevator doors, which crept open slowly at first then sped up until they’d reached the end of their tracks, the Subshuttle seemed to have been built more like an industrial freight elevator. It was efficient, and slow. Powerful, but not much care had been taken in designing things like ensuring the doors opened quickly enough for guests to not have to wait around.
Reggie felt like one of those guests, waiting around. The doors slid apart in slow motion, the ever-increasing crack of light from inside growing wider with each passing second. But those seconds felt like minutes.
“See them yet?” Ben whispered.
Reggie shook his head. He didn’t care if Ben couldn’t see it.
The doors widened. He tightened his grip on his weapon. It suddenly felt good in his hands, like it had grown to be a part of him. He was ready.
Julie and Dr. Lindgren weren’t on the Subshuttle. If anyone was, they were hiding behind the thin sections of siding behind the open doors that were out of his line-of-sight.
Smart, he thought.
He crouched lower, ready and anxious for the battle. There were guards in there, he could feel it. They were waiting.
He waited.
He could wait all day.
“Cover the stairs,” he whispered to Ben. “But get ready.”
“You got it.”
Reggie squeezed the trigger, instinctively knowing just how far to pull it in so that his shots could be unanticipated by his conscious mind. He was steady, breathing with his weapon, fully aware of everything in his field of vision and peripherals, and subconsciously feeling the area directly behind him as well. The hair on the back of his neck would warn him of any approaching danger, as it had so many times in the past.
He was in his element, and the Ravenshadow men weren’t going to stand a chance.
He continued to wait, but no one came out of the Subshuttle’s anteroom. He could see the machine inside, the gondola that slid on its cable beneath the water, but it was empty.
Were they lying down? Reggie thought. It would have been an effective hiding spot, but it would make them vulnerable as well.
He double- and triple-checked the spots across the hallway in the anteroom he would consider hiding, trusting his instincts that they were, in fact, empty.
That left the floor of the craft, and possibly the very rear end of the shuttle behind a chair on its starboard side. Those were the only two blind spots, therefore those were the only two places anyone could hide.
Time to move out, he thought. “Ben, cover the hallway, I’m going across to check it out.”
“Yep.”
Ben followed him out, and they executed a clean sweep in both directions before Reggie sprinted across the hall and slid to a stop, feet-first, directly in front of the shuttle.
And he discovered that it was very much empty.
“Clear,” he said. His voice was calm, but hesitant. How could that be? The women must have faked it, not even getting on the shuttle at all.
“No one?” he heard Ben’s voice ask.
“Nope. All clear.”
Reggie walked through the open antechamber doors and onto the Subshuttle. He didn’t need to check under every chair — the thing was small enough that he knew it was empty.
Ben stepped in beside him, watching the hallway but glancing over his shoulder. “You sure? Nowhere else to hide in here?”
“Nothing, man. I’m positive.”
“But The Hawk said his men called it in. They saw Julie and Sarah get on, right?”
“He said they believed they got on. Or it could have been a ruse, to —”
Shit.
“Ben, gun’s up. Get ready.”
“For what” Ben asked.
He didn’t need an answer. A trio of bullets pinged into the sidewall of the antechamber.
“Down! Now!” Reggie yelled.
43
BEN HIT THE FLOOR, AND Reggie stepped over him, straddling the man’s prone body. Ben was a solid shot, and he’d be even more effective lying on the floor with some ability to support his arm. Reggie was ruthless in any position, so together they — hopefully — would form a deadly pair.
The first two guards came into view on Reggie’s left. He forced himself to turn to the right, and he was glad he did.
Ben shot at the men on the left, and Reggie shot at two more guards advancing from the opposite direction. He knew Ben would take the bait, so he had made sure to detect any threats coming from the other side.
Their weapons fired at the same time. Two men went down, one on each side. Their partners stepped backwards, possibly not having anticipated anyone firing back. Reggie took the opportunity to down his second man, then he turned to see how Ben was faring.
Ben missed, and Reggie tried to follow up with a kill shot to the man’s head, but it missed. The man ducked out of the way behind the curve in the wall, and Reggie checked to see if he needed to reload.
“Reggie, we got company.” Ben said. His voice was low, tense.
“Let’s take them out. We’re better protected in here, anyway.”
“No, not what I meant. Look.”
Reggie looked up, watching the area where Ben was staring. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he said.
Julie and Sarah were in the stairwell, the same one they’d previously been posted at, watching the hallway. Julie waved, but Reggie held up a hand.
“Not the best time to come up here, ladies,” he shouted.
“Figured that,” Julie said. “But I’d feel much better being in the same room as you two once again.”
Reggie nodded, then looked down at Ben. “And probably not just because we’ve got the guns, huh.”
“Bad time for jokes, bud,” Ben said. He was still aiming at the bend in the hallway where the guard was waiting.
“We’ll cover you, but you need to run. Fast.”
“Got it,” Julie said. “Try not to get shot?”
“Exactly. Ben, lay covering fire that direction on the count of three. Nothing crazy, we don’t have all the ammo we’d like to have. Just make sure no one gets off a pop at our girls.”
“Understood.”
He aimed the other direction, then counted it down. He spoke the words clearly and loud enough that they could hear him across the hall, but he didn’t yell. No sense broadcasting their next move to the bad guys, he figured.
“One… two… three!”
Ben opened fire. Julie and Sarah shot out of the stairwell — followed by a third woman. Reggie watched the hallway to his right, but didn’t shoot. He didn’t want to waste ammo.
Julie made it across and jumped over Ben, landing in the center of the Subshuttle. Reggie leaned out of the way for her to pass, just as Sarah leaped from the hallw
ay.
She’s going to land right on top of —
She made it to the space right behind Ben and took a deep breath.
“That was one hell of a long jump, Doc,” he said.
“Track star. All through college.” She smiled and winked at him.
The last woman was slower, and Reggie watched the hallway in both directions. She didn’t try to jump for it, but she hustled toward the end, feeling the pressure and seeing the guns. She made it to the shuttle just as Reggie hit the button to shut the doors.
And just as three more guards, jogging in front of Vicente Garza, came into view. They started firing, and Reggie pulled the third woman out of the way.
“Get back, Ben. We’re hot, to the right.”
Ben nodded and slid backwards, but he didn’t move from his spot lying prone on the floor of the shuttle.
The rounds pinged off the metal doors to the anteroom, and a few lodged between the shuttle itself and the anteroom’s walls.
Now would be a great time for these doors to start moving faster, he thought.
Unfortunately the doors were every bit as slow closing as they been opening.
“They’re not going to close in time,” Ben said.
“Slide back a little more, Ben,” Reggie said. “Let’s hope this shuttle’s bulletproof.”
He hit the next button on the panel — there were only three — and the door to the Subshuttle started closing. It was only marginally faster than the antechamber’s doors, but the space it had to travel was far smaller.
The doors closed, and a few rounds ricocheted off the glass and door panel. None were direct hits, but none even made a dent. Let’s hope they don’t start shooting at the same spot from up close, Reggie thought.
The antechamber doors closed, but not before The Hawk stepped into view. Reggie watched him from inside the Subshuttle, his gaze on the man’s eyes.
The Hawk smiled, the same cold, ruthless grin he’d seen so many times before. It said both ‘that was a mistake,’ and ‘I’ll see you again.’
