The Extinction Files Box Set

by A. G. Riddle

  Chapter 45

  Adams inhaled and straightened, like a man who expected to soon face a firing squad. “What are your orders, ma’am?”

  Lin placed her gun on the nearest crate. Her voice was quiet. “I’ll handle this.”

  Nigel threw up his hands. “Oh, good. I feel relieved. Care to share any details? I’m particularly curious as to whether I will die in the process?”

  Lin ignored Nigel’s theatrics. She answered in a somber tone. “Unknown, Doctor Greene.”

  His eyes grew wide. “Well, what do you know?”

  “As I said, I know we’re trapped.”

  “Then what’s your plan?” Nigel spat.

  Avery’s voice reflected Lin’s calm. “Let’s talk options.”

  Lin affixed the top to the plastic container she and Peyton had found. “There are none. There is no play here. Our adversary is a strategist with no peers. If not for his work in the Citium, he would likely be the world’s leading expert in game theory. Any plan I can think of, he’s already considered.”

  The room fell silent, the reality sinking in.

  Peyton broke the silence. “Mom, when you said you’d handle this—”

  “I’ll go alone.”

  “No.” Peyton closed her eyes. Less than a month ago, Yuri had killed her father. And before that, Yuri had kidnapped her brother and brainwashed him. She couldn’t lose her mother too. “There has to be another way.”

  “There isn’t. Yuri is here for me. I’m the threat to his work. He needs to capture me. He needs me to tell him my plan, and who I’m working with. In exchange, I’ll ask for your freedom. At least for you all to be supplied and confined here until this… Looking Glass war is done.” She exhaled. “Once he has me, he’ll have no need for the rest of you.”

  “Exactly!” Nigel yelled. “He’ll kill us all.”

  “I doubt that—”

  “You doubt it?” Nigel turned to Adams. “This is clearly a military matter. Chief, we should be deferring to you. Please formulate—”

  “I don’t take orders from you, Doctor.” Adams focused on Lin. “Ma’am?”

  “When I leave, split up and hide. Rodriguez and these Citium operatives will accompany me—”

  “Don’t we need hostages?” Nigel asked, exasperated.

  “No,” Avery said, “we do not. We need to be able to fight, and we don’t have the kit to run an underground prison camp.”

  “We could lock them in here.”

  “And let them destroy what we just found? Stick to science, Doctor.” To Lin, Avery said, “Continue.”

  “Rodriguez will stay with one of the Citium operatives just inside the comm range. He’ll relay the result of my negotiation with Yuri.”

  “Negotiation,” Nigel muttered. “Surrender is more like it.”

  Lin ignored him. She stepped over to Peyton, gripped her shoulders, and looked her directly in the eyes, unblinking. “I love you very much.”

  Peyton was shocked. Her mother rarely showed affection, and never in front of others, especially anyone outside the family.

  A wall within Peyton broke. A tear formed at the corner of her eye and rolled down her face. In any other moment, she would have wiped it away, embarrassed, but now she let it slide down, like the last grain of sand falling through an hourglass, a symbol of her time with her mother, which might be up.

  Her voice was low and heavy with emotion. “I love you too.”

  Lin pulled her into a hug and held it. When she released Peyton, she walked to Adams, who stood straighter as she approached.

  Even in the silent cave chamber, Peyton could barely hear her mother’s voice. “Take care of my daughter, Chief. She is more important to me than anything in this room.”

  Peyton felt another tear escape her eye. And another. She avoided crying out loud, but just barely. Growing up, she had always come second to her mother’s work. Missed soccer games, birthday parties, family time. Even her medical school graduation. Lin Shaw’s work came first—and this room held the crowning achievement to that work. Lin Shaw had cajoled and killed and sacrificed for decades to find it. And now, in what might be the final chapter of her life, she had revealed what was truly important to her: Peyton.

  Like any child, Peyton had always wondered where she stood in her mother’s hierarchy of priorities. Now she knew, and it broke her heart all over again.

  Lin turned to the group. “Let’s proceed.”

  At the opening to the room, she paused but didn’t look back. “Wait twenty seconds, then split up and hide. Use the earpieces for your radio to keep quiet.”

  With that, she slipped through the opening, and Peyton wondered if she would ever see her mother again.

  The cave paintings danced at the edge of the lantern light, making the animals seem alive. Lin remembered walking into this cave with her father. Her fascination with his work had been born here that day. One way or another, she would complete her own journey to finish his quest today. But there was far more at stake than that.

  In front of her, the two Citium troops clad in SAS uniforms halted, one holding up a fisted hand. Lin and Rodriguez came to a stop, as did the other Citium mercenary behind them.

  Figures emerged from the shadows, their guns held out, bodies clad in black body armor, night vision goggles flipped up.

  “Sit-rep,” one of the black-clad operatives barked.

  “They’ve surrendered,” the SAS-clad operative said. “The woman wants to discuss terms with Pachenko.”

  Without a word, the mercenaries rushed to Lin and Rodriguez and frisked them.

  A mercenary motioned to the Navy SEAL. “What’s he doing here?”

  “For the comm relay. The others are hiding until they hear from her. Keep an eye on him.” The SAS-clad operative turned to Lin. “Let’s go.”

  The morning light spilling through the mouth of the cave was blinding. Lin paused to squeeze her eyes shut.

  She heard boots pounding the stone ahead, drawing closer.

  By degrees, she allowed her eyes to open. When the scene came into focus, she saw a dozen men crowding into the main chamber off the entrance, all wearing SAS or Spanish Army uniforms—except for the boots. No one had bothered to change out of the Citium-issued boots, perhaps for comfort, perhaps because finding the right fit would be like a massive game of musical chairs.

  The first troops they had met in the cave had apparently radioed ahead and apprised the units here of the situation. They waved Lin forward.

  Inside the visitor center, there was a stack of bodies—men and women in underwear—most with gunshot wounds to the torso. A still pool of blood encircled them, half in shadow, making it look black, like an oil spill. It was the most grotesque thing she had seen since the occupation of Hong Kong.

  “Hello, Lin.” Yuri’s voice was emotionless, as if there were no water under the bridge between them—and she wasn’t his prisoner.

  Lin tried to control her breathing. Her voice came out harder than she wanted, her emotions betraying her. “I’ve come to talk.”

  “Then I will listen.”

  “In private.”

  Yuri squinted, studying her face.

  Lin cleared her throat. “I’m willing to tell you what you want to know. Time is not on your side. That’s what I can give you. I want her safety. That’s all I want.”

  Yuri paused, then addressed the Citium operative who had brought Lin out of the cave. “Report, Captain.”

  “Yuri—”

  “Please be quiet, Lin.”

  She listened while the man recounted everything that had happened.

  Yuri appeared to think on this for a moment, then to another nearby soldier said, “Status on Bravo unit?”

  The man activated his radio and conversed before reporting: “No movement. Shaw’s SEAL hasn’t said or done anything.”

  Yuri frowned. “Search her.”

  Two men ran their hands over her body, poking and kneading, patting and rubbing, indelicate, deg
rading actions. She stared ahead, face burning, hatred welling up. She had endured this before, but it had been a very long time. When it was done, the men said nothing, merely nodded to Yuri.

  “Well then. Let’s talk.”

  Yuri led her to a small office behind the information desk and closed the door behind them. Lin quickly took in the room, including all the items on the desk.

  “This reminds me of Rio. The favelas.”

  Yuri was silent.

  “We were prisoners then too. Held in a small room. Our bloody captors degrading us. The only difference now is that you’re the madman on the other side of the gun, Yuri.”

  Lin watched, hoping he would crack a little—or even react to the words. He didn’t.

  “It’s not too late to stop this.”

  A cold smile crossed Yuri’s lips. “We both know it is. There’s only one way forward for me. The Looking Glass has always been my only hope.” He stepped closer to her. “And I just got one of the last pieces I need.”

  “But you’re still missing one piece.” Lin let a moment pass. “Rendition. Desmond Hughes is the only factor you misjudged in all this. He’s different from you and Conner—more so than you realized. That must be hard for you.”

  “All’s well that ends well.” Yuri averted his eyes. “And besides, I have also recently acquired the key to controlling Desmond.” The smile returned. “Peyton. And perhaps Avery. I wasn’t here just for you.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong: you can’t control him. He was willing to betray his brother. You think he won’t sacrifice Peyton? Or Avery?”

  “Why are you here, Lin?”

  “I think you know by now.”

  Chapter 46

  By instinct, Peyton had wandered back to the narrow passage where she and her mother had found the cave painting of the doe. It stood proud in the lantern light. The wall beside it was smeared and gouged out, as if it had been gutted. That’s how Peyton felt.

  She hated waiting. She wanted to do something. But there was nothing to do.

  She sat and clicked the light off. It was pitch black and damp, and every second felt like an eternity. It was like she was a speck of dust floating in endless black space, weightless, no light, no direction up, down, forward, or backward.

  The earpiece crackled, and Rodriguez’s voice came through in clips, deafening at first.

  Peyton winced and focused. She wondered how long she had been hiding.

  “I repeat, we have a resolution. Doctor Shaw has reached an agreement. All units come to location yellow.”

  Location yellow?

  Rodriguez added, “That’s the comm relay point. All units proceed now.”

  Peyton dreaded hearing what the resolution was—but hearing her mother was alive… It was a huge relief. And it gave her hope.

  She clicked her light on. It was like a supernova exploding. She waited and let her eyes adjust, then began hiking out. She turned a corner and, too late, saw a flash of movement from the corner of her eye. A hand wrapped around her, covering her mouth, and pulled her back.

  Peyton struggled, but a voice she knew whispered in her ear: Adams. “Stay here, Doc.”

  She stopped moving.

  He released his hand.

  “Why?” she whispered.

  “Location yellow. It’s our pass phrase for all clear but stay alert.”

  “I can stay alert.”

  He moved around her. “I made a promise to your mother. I’ll call you when I’m sure it’s safe.”

  He turned her light off and slipped into the darkness, footsteps like a pebble falling down a well, the sound echoing and dwindling to silence.

  Once again, she waited in darkness for what felt like an eternity.

  Adams called over the comm, “Doctor Peyton Shaw, it’s all clear. You can exit the cave.”

  Peyton wanted to run, but the ground was too uneven—and would be unforgiving if she fell. She hurried, the cave opening becoming lighter with each turn. To her surprise, she didn’t meet a soul—not Avery, or Nigel, or Rodriguez, or any of the Citium troops.

  She rounded a bend and stopped, letting her eyes adjust to the bright light. She held an arm up to shield her eyes as she hiked out. There was no one by the cave mouth, only cigarette butts and protein bar wrappers.

  She made a beeline for the visitor center. The parking lot was filled with military vehicles, but completely devoid of soldiers.

  She pushed the glass door open—and reeled back in horror. Bodies were stacked on top of each other like fallen tree limbs, a human brush pile atop a red-black pool of blood.

  Peyton looked away, suppressed the urge to retch.

  Beyond the bodies, more soldiers—these still living—lay face down, hands zip-tied behind their backs, feet bound too, strips of cloth tied around their eyes. In the cave exhibit, in the shadows, someone was hammering something. No, two people—there was an unsynchronized cadence, like blacksmiths striking two anvils.

  Adams stood by the information desk, rifle in hand, a glint of triumph in his eyes. “We’re secure here.”

  “How?”

  He jerked his head toward a closed door behind the dais, where Rodriguez stood. Peyton followed him, and held her breath as the door swung open.

  Yuri stood in the center of an office, his back arched, hands bound behind him and taped to his body. A blade was held at his neck, a line of blood below it, streaks running down like legs of red wine in a glass. Lin Shaw stood behind him, out of reach of his hands.

  “She cut the head off the snake,” Adams said. He shrugged. “Well, threatened to.”

  “Status?” Lin asked.

  “They’re tied. About done with the phones and radios.”

  “Good. Finish prepping our prisoner for transport.”

  Lin drew the blade away from Yuri’s neck and shoved him toward Rodriguez, who caught the man, sat him in a chair, and began lashing him to it with duct tape.

  Yuri looked at Lin. “Last chance.”

  “I’ll pass.”

  “Rapture Control will be back online any second now. We’ll have access to every person who received that cure.” His eyes drifted to Peyton.

  “Gag him too,” Lin said as she walked past Peyton, into the lobby, and past the stacks of dead bodies and the rows of living ones.

  Peyton and Adams followed her to the source of the hammering sound. Avery and Nigel were seated around a pile of radios and sat phones, raking them over one at a time and busting them with the butt of a couple of handguns. Peyton saw the gun’s magazines lying nearby.

  “How can I help?” she asked.

  Adams drew his gun and ejected the magazine. “Feel like smashing something?”

  “You have no idea.” She took a seat next to Avery and began.

  “Avery,” Lin said. “Disable the vehicles.”

  Avery rose. “How many do we need?”

  “Two. Just in case one breaks down.”

  “On it.” Avery went out to the parking lot. Through the plate glass window, Peyton could see her popping hoods and fiddling around inside.

  To Adams, Lin said, “Begin retrieving the cases.”

  With a nod, Adams headed off, and Lin went to assist Rodriguez.

  Peyton kept her head down. She crushed a phone, grabbed another, and repeated. She expected more Spanish troops to arrive, but none came. “Are we getting reinforcements?” she asked Nigel as she crushed the hand piece to a radio.

  “Lin decided against it. Security risk. She thinks maybe someone in the British or Spanish military gave away our location.”

  “Makes sense.”

  They resumed their orchestra of destruction in silence, each pausing only long enough to take a quick bathroom break. It was simple, satisfying work, and Peyton was glad for it.

  Adams and Rodriguez came and went, moving the cases at an inhuman rate. They were drenched with sweat by the time they sat down in the lobby and tipped their canteens back. Avery had returned from the parking lot by
then and washed up. She walked to the information desk, then disappeared from Peyton’s view and yelled out, “Hey!”

  Lin responded, but Peyton couldn’t make out the words.

  Adams and Rodriguez leapt to their feet, as did Nigel and Peyton. They ran toward the two women.

  The door to the office stood open. The chair where Yuri had been tied up was empty. Strands of duct tape hung from it, the edges even where they had been cut.

  “I tied him up tight,” Rodriguez said, staring at the chair.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Lin said. “He’s gone. And we need to go too.”

  No one said what they all knew: Yuri hadn’t freed himself. One of them had done it.

  Chapter 47

  Conner and his men had been hiding in the racquetball court under Desmond’s garage for twenty hours. Empty MRE cartons dotted the catwalk. Two of the mercenaries were playing cards by helmet light. Dr. Park was asleep. Desmond lay under the catwalk, still sedated, his breathing shallow.

  Conner opened a laptop and tried to connect to one of the drones.

  Out of range.

  He motioned to the closest Citium operative. “I’m going out.”

  He pushed the door open and waited. It was quiet. He ventured into the basement and activated the app again.

  Out of range.

  He walked up the back staircase, pausing every fourth step. The house was silent.

  He crept down the central hall and plopped down in the great room. The drone footage finally appeared on his laptop. There was no sign of the X1 troops. As planned, the enemy combatants had pursued Conner’s vans and Humvees. They had no doubt searched Desmond’s estate, but they hadn’t found the hidden room. After all, they wouldn’t have been looking very hard for it, as they were sure their adversary had fled, just as the lieutenant had told them, relating the plan he had overheard Conner whisper to Major Goins.