“I’m sure you are.” The general chuckled.
“I’ll prove it.” Connie moved her left hand.
One of the paint cans lying on the ground inside the blue light exploded. A second later, the sound of a gunshot came from where he’d seen Buck.
The guards crouched and looked for hard cover, but the only shield was the giant stone pillar twenty yards behind the scientists’ table. They’d have to expose their backs while running for it.
Strauss flinched but stood her ground. She took a few steps to the side, which put her behind Connie relative to the shooter. He gave her props for knowing how to find the only safe place out on that floor.
“I’m sure you don’t have any Marines. I controlled which military forces were allowed to come to the Alpha Site. Besides the official units I needed to run the tanks and engineering battalions on the outside, the only soldiers inside this underground base are with the 130th. Those are mine.”
She sounded like a little girl threatening to take her teddy bears away from the tea party, but Phil knew better than to underestimate her.
Connie looked at him and smiled much more broadly than before.
Phil mapped it out in his head. Had Buck known the general would stand where she had? He had the shooting skills, so what would be his next move? He ran the numbers and angles and came to the conclusion that his mother would wrestle with the general while Buck shot at the guards. They were in the clear and easy targets.
He had to get in the game to help. There was no telling what the guards would shoot if their lives were being threatened.
“Ma’am!” a scientist yelled. “Something is coming!”
Strauss half-turned toward the scientists’ table. “From the other end?”
“Yes,” a balding man said with barely contained excitement. “We have tracking!”
“The kids are coming home,” Phil said in a quiet “I’ve got to do something” tone. His eyes went to his mom. She had something planned, but he couldn’t say what. There was no way she could have known the kids were coming. Or had she? Did Faith know?
There were too many variables on the other side of the table.
But there was one he could control.
His friendly neighborhood guard was still acting like a gawker instead of a participant. Not a professional.
The two kids appeared with a thunderclap at the edge of the blue light.
“Garth!” Connie shouted.
He paid attention only long enough to ensure they were safe.
Then he made his move.
Alpha Site
Buck was shocked to see Lydia and his son appear out of nothing from inside the blue light. The rolling thunder that came with them echoed around the immense chamber for a good ten seconds. He turned to Faith, who had crouched behind a bundle of spare pipes a few yards from him. “You were right. How did you know?”
“Call it scientist’s intuition. The only reason she would send anyone into that event horizon was to see if they came back. She wouldn’t have stuck around unless she was sure there would be a payoff.”
Buck set his eye back on the scope to watch the action.
The two kids hugged Connie like they’d been lost for a lifetime.
She started to pull the pair away from the general.
He caught sight of Phil behind the scientists. Incredibly, he held up a rifle.
“Son of a bitch,” Buck exclaimed. “He’s good.”
“What’s happening?” Faith asked, not looking. “I’ve cashed in a miracle to see your son come back, so I’m going to puke if anything happens to him now.”
Fighting to defend Garth was going to be a necessity, but it was not black and white. He could take out any two soldiers on the other side before anyone could shoot back, but that left at least three shooters who could put a bullet in three people he cared about deeply. Four other civilian prisoners also stood by the light, people he didn’t want to strike by accident. That left him with few good options.
Except for Phil. If they worked together…
He waved to get Phil’s attention, then cupped his hand next to his ear and pointed at himself.
Phil replied with a thumbs-up.
Buck had his attention.
Connie was still backing away from the general, which opened up a lot of options.
He looked back at Phil and pumped his fist up and down, which meant ‘faster.’ The attack had to happen immediately.
Next, he held his hand over his head. “Cover me,” he mouthed.
Finally, he slid his hand over the opposite bicep. It signaled that Phil should attack the general. Buck couldn’t risk hitting Connie from his position since she was between him and Strauss, but Phil was at the general’s three o’clock. He might have a safer shot.
“What did you say?” Faith asked.
“That I want him to move fast, fire when I fire, and go for the general.”
“Do you want me to shoot?” Faith cradled a shotgun as she waited.
“Not yet. Shotguns are for when the enemy is up in your grille, not across the cavern.”
“Okay,” she murmured.
He checked with Phil one last time. He held up five fingers, then four, then three…
While counting off the last two digits, he put his eye to the scope to prepare for action and give Phil confirmation of what was about to take place.
“Here goes nothing,” he whispered.
Twenty-Five
Alpha Site
Buck lined up the guard who was closest to Connie, Garth, and Lydia. He exhaled, then squeezed off a round.
The targeted guard fell to the concrete.
The second guard aimed in Buck’s direction and fired. Conceptually, he knew he wasn’t invisible to the enemy force. The act of firing created a flash of light and a wisp of gas that would act as a beacon for those seeking to do him harm, but he had to take out the second guard before he dared reposition.
The guy in his crosshairs wasn’t much older than Garth. It pained him to have to shoot him, but they were in us-or-them territory.
He punched a hole in the guy’s chest.
Buck dropped as bullets sparked off the spare equipment and the back wall.
On his way down, he’d caught sight of Phil firing toward the general from behind the scientists. He prayed he would take her out of the game for good.
He also saw the four civilians run into the blue light and disappear. He didn’t blame them. Having bullets whiz by your head was a powerful motivator.
“I’m repositioning,” he said as he passed Faith. “Stick close.”
More plinks resounded from nearby. A claxon droned to life, probably the general requesting help. The fight moved fast.
“I’m following,” she said with fear in her voice.
When he got to the end of the line, where the spare piping and equipment were close to the supercollider and its tunnel entrance, he got back into a crouch and raised his weapon over the top of the piping. Ignoring the bits of death tearing into the gear back where he had been, he lined up his next shot, but he hesitated.
Connie ran behind Garth and Lydia as they crossed the open chamber toward him.
“Faster!” he shouted.
He aimed at the enemy. With the four civilians in the blue light and out of the way, the target zone was almost clear. He still didn’t want to shoot toward Phil, but he squeezed off several rounds at the remaining guards in the open.
As long as he could keep the guards hunkered down, they wouldn’t be able to shoot his friends in the back.
Phil had repositioned during the confusing battle. He now stood against the giant pillar, so he had some protection from enemy bullets. The location gave him another angle to fire on the guards, which further helped his people clear the room. Buck kept up his fire for the ten seconds it took for the three runners to go past him and into the tunnel.
“They’re out!” he yelled. “Follow them!” he said to Faith.
She hust
led after them.
Buck focused on the guards and tried to find the general, but to his surprise, they weren’t all lying in pools of blood. Strauss and her remaining men had turned over the scientists’ table and the tent to use as concealment. Those scientists were probably her human shields.
Phil held his fire once the trio was safe.
Buck met his eyes. There was no way to get Phil over to the tunnel without running him past the guards and the table. The alarm would bring reinforcements at any moment. He knew Phil would still try to come across, and Buck might even try to make it happen, but he also knew Connie would want her son to stay alive to fight another day. She would want him to escape with the least chance of eating a bullet burger.
And that way wasn’t with them.
He flashed a thumbs-up. “Good job.”
Buck patted his heart, hoping to convey a non-standard military symbol for thank you. Then he pointed behind Phil and pumped his fist up and down to order the guy to move out.
Phil hesitated for a second, then fired three times toward the table and gave him the OK sign to show he understood.
Buck saluted him.
Phil saluted back before peeling off in a sprint.
Buck laid down fire at the table and the blue light, as well as anything else that didn’t belong on the empty floor. By the time he ran through the last of his thirty rounds, Phil had lost himself among some trucks parked outside the nuclear power plant.
“Take care, son,” he said with pride.
Then Buck ran to follow his family.
Alpha Site
Garth and Lydia ran into the tunnel with Connie, but they stopped to wait for Faith and Buck. The scientist appeared almost immediately.
She exhaled. “Buck is right behind me.”
Not long after, Buck trotted up to the four of them. “Keep moving. Why did you stop?”
Connie took a few hurried steps but looked behind them. “Phil’s not coming, is he?”
“I wanted him to, but the stubborn general wouldn’t die.” Buck slowed to a walk. “When she triggered the alarm, both of us had to run in different directions. He definitely made it out of the firefight..”
“I figured,” Connie continued. “He protected your boy, like he promised. He made the general dance for her life. I’m so proud of him.”
“Me too,” Buck agreed. “Now, run!”
Garth ran about fifty yards before he had to share his story. He was bursting with excitement and wanted to make sure someone knew what he and Lydia had experienced.
“We were somewhere else, Dad,” he said with wonder. “It was a huge crater with fire all over the place. Trees knocked down. Buildings cracked in half. All those people who jumped into the light before me…they all died when they fell off a cliff. It was horrible, like being in Hell.”
“I’m just glad you came back,” Buck replied between heavy breaths.
“And he saved me while we were there,” Lydia gushed.
“She saved me, too. It was super crazy.”
“How long were you in there?” Faith asked.
“A long time,” he admitted. “We had to talk ourselves into jumping back into the blue portal since we knew we would probably get taken back to those guards and put in custody—”
He cut himself off and changed topics.
“We saw Phil! He saved our lives. I mean, another time besides just now.”
“Really?” Connie asked.
“Yeah. A guy tried to kill me before we came down here. He tried to…do stuff to Lydia, but Phil came up behind him and put an end to all that. He’s a prisoner now, I think.”
“He’s not,” Buck answered. “That’s what we were just talking about. He protected you when you came out of the blue light, then he escaped.”
“Awesome sauce,” Garth answered. He had mad respect for Phil after all they’d been through together.
The run through the curved tunnel seemed to go on forever, but Faith said they’d had only gone a mile when they arrived at a large chamber. The open space on the right contained a bunch of equipment that had been blown up. As they went up and over the stairs of the collider, they approached a futuristic tram station with a silver car lying off to the side.
Despite the continuous drone of the emergency sirens, there were no signs of pursuit. They caught their breath at the tram station while Buck trained his weapon on the tunnel they’d come out of.
Faith pulled the boy aside. “Garth, I know we have to hurry, but I need some information. Did you see anything else while you were in that place? Do you know where you were exactly? Did you see mountains, a big lake perhaps?”
He thought back to the place. Most of his attention had been focused on the big pit in front of him since he’d almost died in it, but he had scanned the wider area a couple of times.
“There was a lake nearby, yeah. Maybe some mountains, but I’m not too sure about those because there was a ton of smoke.”
“It’s got to be Switzerland,” she answered.
“You’re telling me my son took a trip to Switzerland?” Buck asked.
“Phil said he came from Switzerland,” Connie added. “He told me his story while you took a nap.”
Buck scoffed. “I was only resting my eyes.”
“Of course, dear.” Connie chuckled.
Everyone laughed in relief except the scientist.
“We go up here.” Faith pointed at the EXIT sign.
Connie and Lydia went first, followed by Faith, but Buck waited for Garth at the doorway.
“It’s good to see you, son.” He held out his arms for a sideways hug.
Garth went into them.
“You too, Dad.”
“I’ve got a million questions for you, but the first thing I want to say is how proud I am for how you protected Lydia. I saw you using your body to block any incoming bullets as you ran away from those guards.”
“Thanks for trusting me. I always did what I thought you would do. I knew you would have run behind Connie if our positions were reversed.”
“That’s my boy.” Buck beamed. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of this tunnel.”
They plodded up the twenty stories and found everyone had gone to the truck except Faith. She stood holding the door open, but it did not appear as if she planned to leave.
“What’s this?” Buck asked.
“I’m staying,” Faith answered with a touch of sadness. “I have to. Strauss and her people have no clue what they’re doing down there. Human experiments? People thrown from cliffs? They might as well be from the 1800s like your son’s friend. I’d wager that girl has more sense than all those guys sitting back at that table.”
“I don’t think you’ve thought it through. If the general is still alive, she’s going to be pissed. She might have you shot on the spot.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But she didn’t see me during the firefight. I stayed out of sight to make sure. That gives me options to explain what I was doing. Maybe I’ll walk across the top of SNAKE and go inside a different fire escape. I can say I’d been chased by the birds. That will be believable.”
“You are the bravest scientist I know.” Buck offered her a handshake. “And I am truly sorry for being an ass to you earlier.”
“You were an ass?” Garth asked with a sarcastic chuckle. “I can’t even imagine!”
“Shut it, kid, or I’m getting the belt,” Buck replied in the same tone.
“I understand now why you were so anxious to protect your son. Even in these few minutes together, I can tell he’s a wonderful young man.”
“Try living with him,” Buck joked. “That’ll change.”
It made all three of them laugh.
“Give ‘em hell,” Buck told her as he left.
“Yeah, thanks for everything,” Garth said as he walked by.
“Take care of your dad,” she whispered. “And good luck with Lydia. She’s a cutie.”
“I’ll do my best. Thanks.” He h
eaded out to the parking lot.
Lorraine had never looked so sweet.
Twenty-Six
Alpha Site
Faith hated that she’d had to tell a white lie to Buck and his son, but they would have never let her go if she’d told them what she intended to do. It was easier to promise she would run around outside and find a sneaky way in rather than say she was heading right back down the stairwell to deal with Strauss.
When she got into the General Smith Memorial Tram Station, a name she intended to make official when she was back in charge, she hid Buck’s donated shotgun beneath some fallen slabs of concrete. She tossed the extra shells into the same space. They were her rainy-day stash.
She trotted into the tunnel again to get to the chamber where she’d last seen the general. Her legs were jelly from running in flats and cramps blossomed in her side, but she was getting used to the pain. The experience had made her a little tougher.
When she came around the corner, she was both relieved and frightened to see soldiers swarming around the scientists’ toppled table.
The blue light continued to shine through the room, oblivious to the affairs of the people killing each other next to it. Part of her wanted to run into the light to see where it would take her. Maybe she could find help in Switzerland, such as another military unit who could come through and take out Strauss and her band of idiots.
Instead, she walked across the chamber with her hands up.
“Well, well, well,” Strauss said in a loud voice.
Of course Strauss had survived.
Faith couldn’t complain about the general being alive. She pretended she had no idea what had recently taken place.
“I couldn’t take more than a short run with those birds. I’d rather be in a prison cell down here.”
Strauss seemed surprised. “Oh, I’m supposed to believe you weren’t with Buck and his kid just now?”
“I saw a truck drive away,” she said with total honesty. “I guess it was him if you say he was here, but I wasn’t going after him on foot. There are too many deadly things flying around in the woods.”
End of Days | Book 5 | Beyond Alpha Page 23
