“We don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Jacob chimed in.
“What? What do you mean?”
“I mean, I took care of it.”
“You didn’t?”
Max looked at both of them and narrowed his eyes. “He didn’t do what?”
Craig shook his head from side to side in disbelief. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“Someone had to make a decision sir. You wouldn’t, so I did. In the field we work off less assurances. That location was as good as it was gonna get.”
“You bastard!” Craig roared and charged Jacob. He grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the wall. “How long ago?”
“What?” Jacob winced.
“How long ago did you launch?”
“When we first got the coordinates.”
“Damn it!” Craig released him and took a few steps back. “Max, help her up. We need to get inside.”
“We’re safe! I kept us safe!” Jacob retorted.
“You killed us you idiot! That last message wasn’t from the French. It was from the Russians.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Max asked with a fear-drenched face.
“We got our first broadcast from the space station last night. The French reported in. They made their launch window.”
Jacob took a deep breath and shook his head from side to side. “No…no, that’s not possible.”
“They know our location now,” Craig said gravely. “Max, start the lockdown procedures.”
CHAPTER 31
THE REAPER
“Daniel!” Trevor called out.
His brother was lying on the ground unconscious. He shook him and screamed his name over and over and after several terrifying minutes he slowly started to open his eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah…I don’t know what happened.”
“Come on,” Trevor said and grabbed his hand. “We gotta move.”
Daniel clambered to his feet and balanced on shaky legs. He blinked a few times trying to clear his head and looked back at the advancing fire then to the trench in front of him.
“Take a deep breath. You can do this,” Trevor said encouragingly.
Daniel turned to him and lowered his head. “I’m scared,” he whispered. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“Scared of what? It’s like, five feet. This is nothing.”
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” he cried. “It’s just like, I don’t know why. I know it doesn’t make sense, but every time I think of jumping over that thing, I feel like I’m gonna pass out or something.”
“Guys! Let’s go!” MJ yelled, and her voice cracked with frustration.
Trevor grabbed his brother by the arms. “Listen…we’ve been through a lot. I’m just as scared as you are, but right now, all we’ve got is each other. And Chloe, she’s got nobody right now. So, we have to get back to her.”
Daniel nodded and wiped tears from his face. He swallowed and clenched his jaw then turned toward the gorge. Trevor grabbed his hand and smiled.
“You fall, I fall,” Trevor said.
Daniel laughed. “That didn’t help.”
“On three. One…”
Trevor took off running and yanked Daniel along. He wanted to resist, but Trevor’s hand tightened as they rushed forward.
“Jump!” Trevor screamed and they both sailed into the air.
Daniel landed first and he hit the ground, rolled his ankle and tumbled over as his hand snatched free from Trevor’s grip. Trevor landed behind him and stumbled a bit but kept his footing.
“You guys okay?” MJ asked as she offered Daniel a hand.
“I think I twisted my ankle.”
“Get up pussy, you’re still alive,” Trevor said with a wicked grin then turned to MJ. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re right. He is being a pussy. Now let’s get moving.”
Daniel smiled then fell in line behind MJ and the others. He could see the mountain in front of him, towering in the distance under the brimming moonlight. It looked so far away, and they had walked so far already.
They moved at a frantic pace. The weather had stabilized, but they could sense the tide changing. Every foul breath of wind, every quiver in the soil was a sign of things to come. Mother Nature would only rest for so long and being caught outside when she awoke would mean almost certain death.
“How much further?” Trevor complained as they trudged across an empty field.
“Just keep walking,” Daniel replied in an exhausted tone.
“I’m just saying. It’s dark, like really dark.”
“It’s just a cloud,” Alistair added. “It’ll pass.”
“And what if we walk into one of those holes?”
Daniel shrugged. He couldn’t think about things like that. He needed to keep moving, to keep his feet stepping one after the other. That was all he could focus on.
Trevor was right, Chloe needed them, and Daniel knew he had to get back to her. That was enough to keep his fears at bay, for now. So, with his head down, he ignored the agonizing pain in his legs and compelled his body to keep going.
Layers of snow piled on the ground until they were dragging themselves through the icy slush. The white blanket looked eerie under the moonlight like a scene from a demented Christmas show. Shivering, they quickened their pace, the promise of safety the only thing keeping them moving.
Alistair stared ahead toward the mountain. He could feel the ground moaning below him and knew another earthquake was on the way. He paused and leaned his head back, letting the snow fall on his face. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath then started back up.
“Feel better?” Trevor asked as he caught up to him.
Alistair smiled. “Just getting ready for whatever’s about to happen.”
“You feel it too?”
Alistair nodded. “We’re close. We’ll make it to the pass in an hour.”
The temperature fell lower and lower and the pace slowed. Exhaustion and their lack of sleep was taking its toll. MJ continued to spur them on, but the boys had just about given all they could.
As they moved up a gentle incline Trevor paused at the top and stared at the ground. The snow was thin, and the hardened earth below looked like a pillowtop mattress to him.
“We have to stop,” he groaned and dropped his bags. “Please…let’s just sleep here for a few hours, just a little.”
MJ turned around, sighing with frustration as she ran her fingers through her hair. She winced as the gash in her head throbbed and a trickle of warm blood started to spill down her cheek.
“Damn it!” she growled and pulled her glove off, pressing her fingers against the wound. “Look Trevor, I know you’re tired. I know you hurt, but if we stop here we’re gonna die. Either the cold will kill us or those earthquakes will.”
Trevor groaned, but grabbed his bag. He glowered at MJ then smiled. “I can keep going,” he said.
“Good.”
They continued through the night, stopping for short breaks, but never long enough for their muscles to cool down. They found a renewed vigor as they passed the grassy field and started toward the mountain pass only half a mile away.
A flurry of white swept from side to side with blistering strafes. The moon vanished behind bulbous, gray clouds and the wall of punishing ice flakes. The blizzard crooned like death itself, wallowing across the field as the ground trembled.
They stopped at the base of the mountain and looked up the path. Rocks and heavy boulders had been shifted out of place and were now scattered across the way like land mines. Alistair shivered then looked to MJ.
“I can’t feel my feet,” Daniel shouted.
“It’s just up there,” MJ replied. “You’re almost home.”
With MJ leading the way, they started up the snow-covered mountain. The trail was obscured by several feet of white powder and visibility had been reduced to inches. They blindly followed one another, hoping their next step wo
uld find solid ground.
“Stay together!” MJ screamed over the howling wind as memories of her last venture on a mountainside came to mind.
Pellets of snow sailed through the air like buckshot, but they pushed through it. Alistair pulled his jacket snug and thanked God for the gear they’d taken. They would’ve been dead already without it.
The higher they climbed the worse the weather got. The wind ripped the smaller trees from the ground, leaving them fallen along the path. And cracks lined the trail where the Earth had begun to split apart.
“Stop!” MJ suddenly screamed back to them.
She knelt and opened her bag then took a bundled rope out and passed it back to them. With confused looks they took hold then waited.
“We’re gonna have to climb around the side. It’s blocked.”
A mound of jagged rocks had fallen into the narrow road, covering it from side to side. The only way around was scaling the edge of the path where the trail dropped off. It was either that or die.
“Wait here,” MJ instructed.
She shuffled toward the tree line and wrapped her end of the rope around the trunk of a massive tree. She looped it again then tied a knot and yanked it tight. It would have to do, and as she felt the subtle quakes reverberating through the packed snow, she knew that time was running out.
On her way back to the trail she slipped going down the incline and laughed at her clumsiness. As she straightened back up she felt a sharp pain in her side and doubled over. Wincing, she made a low grumbling sound then took a deep breath, waiting for the pain to subside.
“You okay?” Alistair asked.
“Yeah…just lost my footing,” MJ replied.
Alistair watched her curiously for a second then looked down the side of the trail where it dropped off into nothing. His imagination filled in the parts that his eyes couldn’t see, and he shuddered then backed away.
“We’ve gotta get moving,” MJ told them. “I’ll go first. I’ll call out when the rope is clear, and you can pull it back from the tree.”
“This can’t be safe,” Daniel mumbled.
“Of course not. But we either get ourselves back or we die.”
MJ didn’t wait for him to reply. She took the rope the inched around the line of massive rocks, tip-toeing along the edge of the trail. In seconds she vanished behind the flurry of snow. The only sign of her was the rope as it slid up and down the rocks as she maneuvered toward the other side.
“Do you hear her?” Trevor asked.
Alistair shook his head from side to side. “It’s gotta take longer than that.”
“How long do you think it’s been?”
“I don’t know. But who’s next?”
“You go Trevor,” Daniel snapped.
“Why?”
“You’re the youngest. That’s how you do it, right? Get the kids safe first.”
“Screw you,” Trevor laughed. “Glad you found your sense of humor.”
Daniel shrugged and strained his ears for any sign of human life. The wild, blustery wind swallowed almost everything as it groaned and echoed through the mountain. Minutes passed as he waited for a sign then a voice so faint that he wasn’t sure he heard it, faded in and out of the wind.
“Did you hear that?” Alistair asked.
“No…all I hear is the wind.”
“I think that was her.” Alistair walked up the incline and gave the rope a gentle tug. It felt lax and he pulled it harder then slowly reeled it in. “Alright Trevor,” he said and offered the rope to him.
“Sure you don’t wanna go first?”
“Nah, like your brother said, save the kids first.”
Trevor flicked his middle finger then took the rope and started along the edge. He followed the same path as MJ and disappeared around the edge. Alistair took a deep breath and held then counted in his head for three minutes. After he was done he made his way back to the rope and pulled it back.
“I’ll go last,” he said and offered the rope to Daniel.
Daniel took the rope and looked away.
“What?” Alistair asked. “You’re okay right?”
“Yeah…yeah, just give me a sec.”
Daniel swallowed and tightened his grip. He shot Alistair a glance then started toward the edge of the trail. Suddenly, there was a loud snap and the rocks shifted slightly. Daniel lost his footing as the soil loosened underneath him, but he used the rope to steady himself.
“I can’t do this,” he said and stepped back onto the trail. “It’s not safe.” He shoved the rope back into Alistair’s hands. “You go!”
There was another crackling sound and the rocks shifted again. Gravel and chucks of frozen earth fell over the edge and rattled into the black abyss.
“Daniel this is crazy. You can’t stay here. Get on the rope!” Alistair yelled to him.
“I can’t okay!”
The ground rumbled again, and a fissure split open near the tree line. Alistair shrieked in horror then shoved part of the rope into Daniel’s hands.
“Move!”
Daniel still looked up at the fissure then to Alistair in hesitation.
“Move or we’re both gonna die. I’m right behind you!”
Daniel’s hands shook as he wrapped his fingers around the paracord. Alistair gripped the bit of rope behind him and they shimmied toward the ledge. Rubble and fractured rocks slid down the mountainside with each step they took, but they moved with purpose, spurred on by Alistair’s constant prodding.
“Move faster,” Alistair said.
“I’m trying.” Daniel shuffled around the outside of the debris, stepping lightly as he tried to find his footing.
Alistair followed behind him. His eyes jittered back and forth, watching bits of the trail break away and chunks of packed, frozen dirt crumble beneath his feet. A gust of wind growled across the rocky ledge then something shifted above him.
Alistair lifted his head in time to see the sheet of ice-like snow ripple to pieces as it rushed down the mountainside above him. The ground snapped apart and blocks of land shifted and buckled. The landslide barreled toward the trail, breaking apart into a shower of freezing death.
“Look out!” Alistair screamed in a strangled voice.
Daniel looked up then ducked his head and pressed his body flush against the massive boulders. A thunderous roar boomed as the surge hit the wall of rocks and showered him with a wash of icy pebbles and slush. He squeezed the rope tighter, wincing at the sound of frozen boulders bashing into the rocks around him. He prayed for it stop, prayed that he’d survive, but the avalanche growled with power.
Daniel yelled in panic as he clung to his life along the side of the freezing mountain. The earth popped and roared, the crust crackling and breaking away. The landslide raged on for less than two minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. Hours of peril passed as he waited to be snatched away in the tide of snow.
When it finally stopped, Daniel slowly lifted his head and took a step back. A mound of ice sat atop the broken rocks and fresh powder covered everything else. It took a minute to collect his thoughts then he wheeled around and shouted, “Alistair!”
His eyes jittered about in panic. The rest of the rope dangled in the wind behind him. He wrapped the slack around his arms then turned and looked down the side of the mountain. The snow and broken ice had piled into a little ledge extending the trail another five feet. Stuck in the middle of it all he could just make out a hint of orange, sticking out from beneath the snow.
“Alistair!” he cried out.
CHAPTER 32
THERE IS NOTHING LEFT
“So, you’re just gonna leave them to die? Leave all of them to die?” Cynthia shouted as she chased behind Craig.
He glanced over his shoulder then continued storming down the hall. She’d been harassing him nonstop for the last hour. Questioning every decision, badgering him over things they both knew he couldn’t change.
“I know you hear me! What about Hunter? What abo
ut MJ!”
Craig stopped and spun around. “You think I want to do this? You think I like losing anyone?”
“You’re not doing anything about it.”
“What could I do Cynthia? Kill everyone here? Jacob screwed us all!”
Cynthia twisted her lips and wiped the tears from her eyes. “And what about Melinda? You’re okay with that? You’re okay with her husband and now her son?” Cynthia spewed venom, knowing she’d hit a nerve.
Craig shot her a contentious glance and bit his tongue. She glared back at him and he turned his head.
“I don’t have time for this shit,” he barked.
Craig walked away and headed down the hall into the command center. Max looked back as he heard him enter then went back to typing commands into the central server.
“How are we looking?” Craig asked.
“I would like more time, but I’ll get it done. Still bringing the egg’s support systems online.”
The door suddenly burst open and Cynthia stormed inside. “I’m not done Craig!” she roared.
“Jesus! What do you want from me Cynthia? I’m doing the best I can.”
“Do more! They deserve more.”
Craig sighed and dropped his shoulders. He gazed at her with a sadness in his eyes that she’d never seen before. Every decision he made let someone down or got someone killed and the stress was taking its toll.
The battlefield was different, death belonged there. But he wasn’t on a battlefield anymore. He should have been saving lives now, but all he was doing was deciding who died first.
“What do you want from me?” he repeated in a shaky, defeated voice.
“I…” Cynthia started, but was cut short.
An ear-splitting shriek sliced the air then cacophony of explosions roared. The ground shook, and bits of rubble fell from the ceiling.
“Shit!” Craig cried. “Max, I don’t care what you have to do, seal this place now!”
Craig rushed out of the room and sprinted toward the atrium. Jacob joined him on the way along with several of the crew members from the naval base.
Deconstruction- The Complete series Box Set Page 84
