He grunted, but said nothing else.
__________
ASH WATCHED THE Project Eden team through his binoculars as he talked to Blake over the radio.
For the entire duration of the conversation, they didn’t move, but after Ash signed off, they started up again, their pace quicker than before.
He couldn’t help but smile.
__________
FIFTEEN MINUTES CLOSER to Everton, Vintner ordered his team to stop again.
“Here?” he asked Reni.
She scanned their surroundings. “Another fifty yards down would be better, I think.”
“All right. You heard her. Fifty more yards, then up and over.”
__________
THE SOUND HAD come from somewhere to the right. Chloe scanned the woods. At first, she didn’t pick up any movement, but then a man wearing Project Eden security gear emerged from the trees and jogged toward her.
She whipped up her gun, but relaxed her trigger finger when she realized it was Ash. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Not intentionally,” he said. “Chloe, the Project Eden group is heading this way.”
“Good. I look forward to them trying to get past us.”
He looked around. “A firefight out here—too many variables. They could tell their bosses what’s happening before we could subdue them.”
“I take it you have something else in mind.”
“I do. I want you to let them in.”
“What?” she said, surprised.
“Let me explain.”
__________
ASH WORKED HIS way through the woods to where Blake and the rest of the team were waiting.
“Nova just reported they’re heading up the other side,” Blake said. “Should be right in front of us in about seven minutes.”
“Perfect,” Ash said.
__________
VINTNER TOOK POINT, creeping up the final few feet of the hill in a crouch. He paused at the top so he could check the other side.
Everton was a gray mass of buildings in the valley below. No streetlights, no smoke rising from chimneys. A deserted town, like all of them these days.
He waved for Barton to be brought up.
When she joined him, he asked, “Which way?”
She pointed down the slope to the left. “Should be about a hundred and fifty yards that way, give or take.”
“And you’re sure the top is open?”
“As sure as I can be.”
He would have preferred something more definitive, but at this point her word was all he had. Rising to his feet, he motioned for the others to follow and headed down the hill.
__________
ASH COUNTED HEADS as the Project Eden group moved by his position. There were twenty-three in all. By the way they carried themselves, he could tell they were far better trained than most of his own people. But he’d expected that, and was hopeful his plan negated the advantage.
One way or another, he’d soon find out.
__________
WHILE THE MEMBERS of Chloe’s team had repositioned to several wall recesses nearly halfway down the slope the train used, Chloe had remained in the shadows near the tunnel entrance to watch the forest. She wanted to see the others first, wanted to know who she was dealing with.
A single crunch of snow, then silence.
She leaned forward as if the few inches she gained would allow her to see through the murky early morning light.
Another crunch. Then another, and another. A quiet approach.
From inside the tunnel, it was impossible to tell which direction the steps had come from, only that they were getting closer. When the silence returned, she was sure the approaching Project Eden squad was no more than a dozen yards from the entrance.
She edged backward toward the bend, one hand on the wall, the other holding her pistol. She was nearly at the turn when a flashlight flicked on directly in front of the entrance, its beam swinging into the tunnel and lighting up the area a few feet inside.
As the light moved deeper into the space, Chloe slipped around the corner and pressed against the wall, listening.
Nearly a minute passed before she heard someone move up to the tunnel, and then a low, harsh “Clear.”
She eased the rest of the way around the bend, squeezed by the funicular car that sat waiting at the top, and headed to her hiding spot down the slope.
__________
BARTON’S GUESS HAD been right. The metal cap covering the auxiliary tunnel had indeed been breached.
Vintner sent pairs of men left and right to circle the area. When they returned, they reported seeing tracks in the snow but no sign that anyone was lying in wait.
He stared at the entrance, a sense of unease growing. It was the perfect shooting gallery. As he and his team walked in, a few hidden gunmen could open fire. But they didn’t really have a choice. Any way into Dream Sky, either here or at the hut, presented the same problem.
He motioned Pierson over. “Check it out.”
With a nod, the man sneaked between the trees and up to the opening. He shone a light inside and moved it back and forth several times before saying, “Clear.”
Vintner and the rest of his men moved over to the tunnel.
“What’s the layout?” he asked Barton.
She described how the tunnel went in about a hundred and fifty feet before doubling back and sloping downward to Dream Sky. “It’s pretty steep. There’s a tram for moving things up and down.”
“Security cameras?” he asked.
She thought for a moment. “Two, I think. One just inside on the left and another down by the bend.”
Vintner signaled Grady over and explained to his best marksman what he wanted.
Grady stretched out in front of the cap, resting the barrel of his rifle on the ripped edge. With an eye to his night vision scope, he spent a moment controlling his breathing and then pulled the trigger. The sound thundered down the tunnel then echoed back out the opening.
“One down,” Grady said.
He repositioned so he could aim his rifle at a more acute angle, and then fired again.
“We’re clear,” he said.
Vintner pointed at two of his other men. “Recon.”
The duo stepped through the opening and moved down the tunnel. They approached the bend with caution before disappearing around it for several seconds. When they returned, they jogged back to the opening.
“All clear, sir,” the first one said.
“The other side?” Vintner asked.
“A train, just like she described.”
Vintner cocked his head. “It’s sitting at the top?”
“Yes, sir.”
Vintner turned to the woman and asked, “The others didn’t take it down?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I thought they did but maybe they climbed.”
“Is that even possible?” he asked the scouts.
“It’s a pretty sharp incline,” the second one said. “Maybe, but it wouldn’t be easy. If someone fell, he could take everyone else with him. A hell of a lot safer to take the train.”
Vintner clenched his jaw. He would have been much happier if they’d had to call the car up from the bottom where it should have been. They would have to proceed with extreme caution.
“Slate, Lamb, Flores, and Wynn, stay here and watch our backs. The rest of you inside.”
He entered the tunnel.
__________
ASH MOVED OVER to where Blake was crouched and nodded at the four Project Eden men who had been left outside the tunnel. “We take them out, nice and quiet. You, me, and two of your best. No gunshots. No shouts.”
“Ramirez and Newcomb can do it,” Blake said.
“Grab them and meet me upslope from the tunnel. I’ll be there in a minute.”
As Blake moved off, Ash looked around in search of someone who could provide them with a little distraction.
__________
“How does it work?” Vintner asked Barton.
“I have no idea,” she said. “I’ve never operated it, just ridden on it.”
Useless, he thought.
He caught Pierson’s eye. “Find the power and figure out how to make this thing go. The rest of you, get on.”
__________
“I’M NOT COMFORTABLE with this,” Robert said. “I should do it.”
Estella smiled nervously. “It makes more sense if it’s me. We both know that.”
It didn’t matter if he knew it or not. He would much prefer for her to be his backup than the other way around. Or better yet, for Ash to have picked someone else entirely to do this.
“Is it time?” she asked.
Robert looked at his watch. The ninety-second mark had just passed. Reluctantly, he nodded.
She gave him a kiss and said, “Easy. Just like with the lookout. You’ll see.”
I don’t remember that being easy, he thought, but kept it to himself.
From the cover of the trees, he watched as she approached the small clearing in front of the tunnel. Right before reaching it, she let out a panicked “Help!” and ran out of the woods.
__________
ESTELLA’S HEART WAS already racing before she emerged from the pines, but it kicked into overdrive when the four men’s rifles turned quickly in her direction.
She stumbled to a stop, hands in the air. “Don’t shoot!”
“Stay where you are,” one of the men barked.
She acted like she was taking a good look at them for the first time. “Are you…are you with the Project?”
“Quiet!”
“You are, aren’t you? Please tell me you are. I think they might be following me!”
The one who’d been talking looked past her into the woods. “Who?”
“I don’t know. The bastards killing people in the base.”
Confusion in the man’s eyes. “You work at Dream Sky?”
__________
WITH A SUDDEN whirl, the train’s engine came to life. It took Pierson a few more moments to find the button on the top platform that got the thing moving, but once he pressed it, the train began inching downhill, the whine of the motor increasing under the strain.
“Is this as fast as it goes?” Vintner asked him.
“There’s only an on and off button. No speed adjustment.”
The snail’s pace was maddening.
“Everyone keep your eyes on the area below,” Vintner said loudly enough to be heard above the motor. “If they know we’re coming, they’ll be waiting for us at the bottom. If anything moves, shoot it.”
__________
ASH WATCHED AS Estella drew the full attention of the Project Eden soldiers.
“Now,” he whispered.
He, Blake, Ramirez, and Newcomb sneaked out from the trees and headed for their specific targets.
Estella was doing a great job of engaging the soldiers in a frantic conversation that masked the approach of Ash and the others. What she couldn’t mask, though, was the sound of Newcomb slipping on the snow and thudding against the slope.
Their presence revealed, Ash raced at his man and hit him in a flying tackle, knocking him off his feet. They landed on the snow and rolled across the ground, each trying to get a better grip on the other.
Somewhere behind them, a weapon fired, but Ash was too busy to worry about it. As he moved back on top, he jammed a foot into the snow to stop the roll and then whacked his elbow into the man’s ear. Stunned, the guy’s grip eased enough for Ash to pull free and ram his knee into the underside of the man’s chin. The man blacked out.
Jumping to his feet, Ash yanked out his pistol. He looked around to see who needed help but Blake and Ramirez were already done and had repositioned to the tunnel. Newcomb’s man was also down, but his target was the only one with a bullet hole in his head.
“You shot him?” Ash asked.
Newcomb shook his head. “Robert. He did it before I could even get here.”
Ash stepped over to where Robert and Estella were huddled together. “What happened?”
“He was going to shoot Estella,” Robert said.
“Either of you hurt?”
“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” Estella said.
“Other than that?”
They both shook their heads.
“You did good, really good,” Ash said and hurried to the tunnel.
“I’m going in,” he told Blake. “Get the others over here, then join me.”
He ducked through the opening.
__________
CHLOE WAS HUNCHED in a wall recess thirty feet below the train when she heard the men climb onto the car. The rest of her team were hiding much farther down, having used a rope secured to a cross tie and strung along the edge of the tracks where it was hard to see.
The car crept down the rails, the counterweighted cable system governing its speed. Though her recess was in one of the shadowy areas between tunnel lights, she huddled as low as she could get when the train passed by. Once it had, she peeked out and saw that the riders were all focused down the tunnel, with none looking back the way they’d come. She moved out of the recess and climbed to the top where Ash was waiting.
“Where’s everyone else?” she asked, looking around.
“Coming. Shall we do this?”
“Definitely.”
She led him over to the wall panel that contained the control switches and checked the train’s position. It was about a quarter of the way down, nearing where her team waited.
Ash, his fingers on the POWER switch, said, “Ready?”
“Not yet.” She let the train travel another ten yards. “Now.”
__________
RENI STOOD BEHIND Vintner, annoyed. While the strike team leader no longer had one of his men guarding her, he had yet to return her gun.
She wasn’t going to sit back and watch while he and his men dealt with the bastards who had broken into Dream Sky. This was her base. She should be part of its liberation. She just needed to convince him of that.
“Commander,” she said. “I realize that you don’t really know—”
Before she could say another word, the lights went out and the train lurched to a stop.
__________
VINTNER GRABBED THE handrail just in time to keep from pitching forward onto the lower platform. He heard Barton’s grunt as she slammed into the railing, and shouts of surprise from the others.
While the tunnel in front of him was pitch-black, there was a dim halo of light at the very top, back the way they’d come.
And in the halo, something moved.
“Everyone down!” he ordered.
He dropped just as a gunshot roared down the tunnel, the bullet whizzing several feet above his head.
“Off the train,” he whispered.
He climbed over the side into the narrow gap between the car and the wall while his men did the same. Another rifle blast, this one closer and from below.
“Lay down your weapons,” a male voice called from above. “If you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re surrounded.”
“Grady?” Vintner whispered.
“Here, sir,” the sharpshooter said from the other side of the car.
“There’s at least one person standing at the top. Take him out.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You have thirty seconds to comply,” the voice yelled. “It’s the only way you’ll walk out of here.”
Grady’s rifle boomed.
__________
ASH HEARD THE thud of someone hitting the ground at the same moment the rifle blast reached the top. He dropped to a crouch.
Blake lay on the ground a few feet away, a bullet hole in his cheek. Robert was kneeling next to him, but Ash could tell Blake had died before he even hit the dirt.
“They’ve given their answ
er,” he said. “Prone position, goggles on.”
Those with rifles lay out in a line and aimed down the tunnel.
“Chloe and I will take the first shot,” Ash instructed. “The rest of you wait until I give you the go-ahead.” He glanced over at Chloe. “One shot. You take the right, I’ll take the left.”
He sighted down his rifle. At this distance, he could just make out a target.
“Ready?” he whispered.
“Yeah,” she said.
“Now.”
__________
“AGAIN,” VINTNER ORDERED as the echo of Grady’s shot faded away.
“They’ve dropped out of sight. I don’t have any targets.”
“Then the second you get one, fire.”
As soon as Vintner and his men got out of this situation, he would teach these assholes a permanent lesson about interfering with Project Eden. Yeah, the infiltrators had been able to spring a trap on the strike team, which meant some of them probably had some military training, but the rest? Amateurs hunting for food and shelter. What else could they be?
“Something’s going on up there,” Grady said.
“Take the shot,” Vintner told him.
“They’re too low. I can’t—”
A double rifle blast from above, the shots so close together that they almost sounded like one.
The man huddled between Vintner and the back end of the car gasped and crumpled to the ground. Vintner dropped flat to the platform and scooted under the train.
“For God’s sake, Grady, take the damn shot!” he ordered.
The sharpshooter’s rifle remained silent.
“Grady! Shoot, dammit!”
From the other side, a different voice said, “He’s dead, sir.”
Vintner seethed before saying, “Then take his place.”
A nervous “Yes, sir.”
Vintner turned his attention to getting them out of there. If they could get the car going, they could ride it out of range and regroup and show these people who was really in charge here.
As Grady’s rifle boomed, Vintner pulled out his flashlight and covered the lens with his palm before turning it on.
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