“Sure, see you up there,” Rose headed towards the staircase.
“I’ll come with you,” Barnes said, following Mercy as she walked towards the rear of the exhibit hall.
Mercy found the huge relief map on the rear wall. “OK, here’s us and the crater,” she pointed at the map. “Here’s Meteor Crater Road to the north, there’s I-40, and an RV park with a gas station just off the interstate.”
Barnes peered at the map, “Look, there’s a canyon three klicks to the west, Yaeger Canyon. It goes north and merges with Wallace Canyon which continues north to I-40.”
“Yeah, a good navigational feature that’d take us straight to the interstate if we had to stay off grid,” Mercy mused. “Good to know.”
Barnes squinted at the map, “So, we’re about forty miles from Flagstaff. We could cover that on foot in a couple of days. That works—”
“Yeah, little by little. We may find a ride, who knows?” Mercy said.
“Here’s hoping,” Barnes replied. “Otherwise it’s a long walk.”
They returned to the foyer. The others were bedding down outside a small cinema attached to the exhibit hall. Mercy left them and took the stairs to the roof. A few minutes later she was with Rose looking out over the starlit desert. Mercy went over to the safety wall and straddled it, sitting down beside Rose. Mercy looked up at the night sky and shook her head.
Amazing—
“It’s not every day you see a sight like that,” Mercy whispered.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Stunning, ain’t it?” Rose answered. “That’ll be the Milky Way up there, it kinda puts things into perspective don’t it?”
Mercy nodded, “Yes, perspective. I really get perspective when I look at the stars or look down from a mountain, like back in the Appalachians—”
“Yeah, Roger that. Also, don’t forget the sea. I sure got perspective when we were floating around in the Gulf of Mexico. That was some serious perspective out there. Nearly killed us. Perspective is great but don’t let too much of it kill you,” Rose said.
“That another one of your T-shirt slogans? You and Flynn seem to be having a T-shirt slogan competition. Who’s winning?” Mercy asked.
“I am of course,” Rose replied. “But the secret is I let him think he’s winning, keeps him happy.” Rose took a sidelong glance at Mercy.
Mercy reached into her pocket for a cheroot then thought better of it. She rubbed her face, “Go on Rose, spit it out. I can hear the cogs turning in your head. I can feel a question coming.”
Rose straightened her leg over the edge and looked out to the horizon, “You and Flynn, Mercy. It’s just, I don’t see it—”
Mercy kept her eyes glued to the stars.
I could quite happily fall into that view, let it take me away, never to return. I’d die happy up there—
“What do you mean Rose?” Mercy said finally.
Rose shifted position. The moment had passed. “Oh, nothing, it’s just me being stupid I guess—”
“Ah, instinct? Or is it intuition? Rose, I’d trust your instinct and intuition anytime, anyplace. I’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve saved my life. So… what? You don’t think Flynn is… The One?” Mercy breathed.
Christ, I could use a cigarette right now—
Rose moved uncomfortably, “It’s just, you know? Tawny and Flynn. They’ve been through a lot together. A bit like you and me. When you found them in the Smithsonian, in that lab. I saw those green tubes. I saw the set up there, they’ve had things done to them, to their bodies, to their heads. They’ve changed, he’s changed, Flynn I mean. I’m not sure that he’s the same guy you fell for back in New York. Goddamn it Mercy, I’ve said too much. That was way out of line. I’m sorry, forgive me. Me and my big mouth—”
Mercy stared out over the desert, the sweet smell of creosote bushes hung heavy in the air. She blinked and reached into her breast pocket and pulled out two strips of gum. She handed one to Rose, popped the other into her mouth, and started chewing.
Is it that obvious—?
“Mercy—?”
Mercy turned to Rose, then frowned. Rose was looking north, towards Interstate-40. Mercy followed Rose’s gaze. Six sets of headlights were twinkling in the distance, heading down Meteor Crater Road towards the visitor centre.
What the fuck—?
“Shit, Rose. Incoming. They’re about three or four klicks away,” Mercy said, she looked through her binoculars.
“I’m not getting a warm fuzzy feeling about this. Let’s go tell the others,” Rose said, she swung around and dropped to the roof.
This can only be bad—
Chapter 8
Willy Pete
Mercy ran down the stairs after Rose.
“Everybody up, move your asses. We’ve got incoming hostiles, a couple of klicks out. Six vehicles moving at speed. We need to leave pronto,” Rose’s voice was taught, urgent.
Mercy went to the front doors and looked through the glass, “Christ, they’re almost here, they’re moving fast. Quick, everyone down the steps to the basement, follow Rose. I’ll take up the rear.”
Tawny approached Mercy, “Wait, I’ll disarm the frag trip wire.”
The first truck pulled into the visitor centre car park, its lights illuminating the front steps. Mercy pulled away from the doors.
“No time Tawny, they’re here. Anyway, they’ll see the door’s barricaded. Just go. The shit’s about to hit the fan—” Mercy pushed Tawny back into the foyer.
Tawny melted into the shadows behind. Mercy watched through the glass as the other trucks pulled into the car park.
See your enemy. Know your enemy. Understand your enemy—
A group of armed men and women jumped down from the trucks.
Guns and swords—
Two dog handlers emerged from the rearmost truck holding bloodhounds on leads.
Shit, dogs. The leader, wait for him, know him—
A figure in a trench coat and cavalry hat stepped down from the front truck.
There you are, bastard. I see you—
“Come on Mercy, time to go,” Tawny hissed from the staircase.
One more second—
Mercy lingered behind the glass door, staring at the figure below.
Tall, slim but muscular—
The figure reached up and took off the hat, revealing a shaven head. Mercy froze.
It’s a woman—
The woman looked up at the visitor entrance, her eyes sweeping over the building. She shouted something at her followers and they moved towards the steps.
Time to go—
Mercy turned and ran to the rear of the foyer. She entered the stairwell just as the first blows landed on the entrance doors. She rushed down the staircase, following Tawny’s bobbing torch. The hammering on the front doors became louder and reverberated through the building
Go, go, go—
Mercy burst through the basement door just as Tawny’s booby trap detonated in the foyer.
That’ll get their attention—
Mercy ran through the basement, she saw movement at the end of the long corridor. Tawny held the viewing platform door open for Mercy.
“See if you can block the door with something, then let’s get out of here,” Mercy said, her breathing laboured.
Annalise and Jade carried over a picnic table and jammed it up against the door. Barnes had opened the trail gate and was moving along the crater path. Mercy looked back then followed Barnes. The others fell in behind her and jogged along the path, keeping their eyes on their feet and the crater below.
“Here, Barnes, this is where the path splits, we need to go this way and contour around to the west side. It leads back up to the rim about half a kick away,” Mercy said a few minutes later, pushing past Barnes.
“Go for it,” Barnes said, allowing her past. “I’m right behind you.”
Mercy glanced back at the visitor centre. A single torch beam moved along the roof.
They’re figuring it out, they’ll know we’ve run. If they’ve been to the plane they’ll guess our numbers—
Mercy turned back to the trail and ran. They made it to the crater rim five minutes later. She scrambled up the last few rocky feet and threw herself over the top. The others followed one by one and fanned out around her. Shouts echoed across the crater from the visitor centre roof.
Goddammit, I think they’ve seen us—
Barnes swore, “They might have thermal imaging or night vision, they’ll be headed this way soon. We need to use the crater rim as cover then drop down the slope to the desert floor. Then we make for the gorge we saw on that map. We’ll stand a chance of evading them if we get below their line of sight. Then we can make our way north—”
“My thoughts exactly, you lead and I’ll bring up the rear, let’s go,” Mercy said.
They explained the plan to the others then scrambled down the crater slope and started moving west, across the desert landscape. A dog howled in the distance, others answered its call.
Not coyotes, not this time. Bloodhounds—
Mercy swore and ran after the others. Barnes pushed the pace, forcing the party to jog across the open desert. Fourteen minutes later Barnes disappeared from view. The others converged on his position and dropped down a steep slope into darkness. Mercy reached the spot and crouched at the edge, she saw movement below and scrambled down. A bright, red light flashed overhead followed by others. Mercy stared at the lights, uncomprehending.
“Tracer rounds, get down… get out of sight,” Barnes yelled from below.
The crack of automatic weapons carried across the desert from the crater.
“Thermal imaging may have given them a visual on us, judging by those tracer rounds. We need to get moving pronto,” Barnes said, his voice coming out of the dark. “Is everyone OK?”
One by one they sounded off.
All OK, thank goodness—
“OK Barnes, let’s go, how deep is this gorge?” Mercy asked.
Barnes switched on his red-filtered head torch illuminating the way, “Not deep, twenty feet or so, it’s muddy with long grass and patches of water at the bottom. Be careful, don’t slip.”
Barnes led the way and they descended to the water’s edge in the shallow canyon.
This is ideal flash flood territory—
Mercy looked at the sky.
At least there’s no clouds—
She tilted her head and listened.
It’s no good I can’t hear anything from up top—
Five minutes later several explosions came from above. The sky lit up overhead. Mercy turned and glanced up. Multiple streaks of bright light moved through the darkness creating dancing shadows on the walls of the gorge.
They mean business, they’re not just going to let us go—
Barnes’s voice cut through the air, “Fuck, that’s white phosphorus. Illumination rounds on our last known position. They’ve got mortars, probably from the Camp Navajo base. We need to get the hell out of here, you don’t want any of that shit to get on your skin. It burns to the bone. Come on, let’s get a move on—”
White phosphorus. Christ, the phosphorus grenade I used back in Annapolis… Fay—
A wave of nausea washed over Mercy and she closed her eyes, pushing back memories of Fay’s death.
Fay—
Mercy opened her eyes and took a deep breath.
They used white phosphorus in Iraq and Afghanistan, I saw the pictures on TV. If this is the type of kit these bastards have no wonder they’re holding their own against the larger groups from Las Vegas and Phoenix—
Galvanised by the phosphorus illuminated skies behind them they ploughed on, north, up Yaeger Canyon. They managed to outrun the illumination rounds and were soon swallowed up by the seemingly endless winding canyon. Mercy stopped looking up at the sky. Instead she stared at Tawny’s feet in front of her. The ground was muddy near the water, and rocky and steep further away. She kept somewhere in-between, trying to avoid the canyon’s ankle breaking dips and holes.
How far does this go on for? Meteor Crater Road was, what? Eight klicks north to the interstate. This isn’t as direct, so it’s maybe ten klicks until we hit I-40. Christ, dig deep—
Mercy looked at the others ahead.
Tawny and Flynn, seem to be doing OK. Likewise Rose and Annalise, that’ll be the biotech. Barnes is hard as nails. It’s Jade and Dimitri that will struggle first. A group is only as fast as its slowest member—
Mercy reached up and tugged at Tawny’s arm. Tawny swung around.
“Tell Barnes to stop for a rest, Dimitri and Jade will need a break soon, they’ve not got the biotech,” Mercy said, her voice echoed in the confines of the canyon.
Tawny grunted and passed Mercy’s message up the line. A few minutes later they came to a bend. Barnes stopped, crouched down and pulled out his map. Mercy overtook the others, her eyes lingering on Dimitri and Jade as she passed.
Yeah, they’re run ragged. Not much left in the tank—
Mercy reached Barnes and knelt down beside him, “I’m worried about Jade and Dimitri, they can’t keep this pace up.”
Barnes’s face was inscrutable, “They’ll have to, the enemy’s behind us with vehicles and comms. They’ll have maps just like us and more importantly, local knowledge. It won’t take them long to figure out our moves. We need to keep going or we’ll be captured.”
Mercy tapped the map. “We’ve still a few klicks to go yet. Why don’t you take Jade and Dimitri, and break out of the canyon? Head west, to this place, Twin Arrows. It looks like a hotel or a resort, or something. It’s ten klicks west of here, on I-40. Look, there’s another canyon which runs under the interstate there. We could meet you there tomorrow, in that canyon under the road. Me and the others can draw any pursuit away from you guys. We’re stronger with the biotech, we’ve got way more stamina than Jade and Dimitri. They’ll be in safe hands with you—”
He’s not going to buy it—
“Sold,” Barnes said. “I was trying to figure a way out of this one. Usually it’s bad to split the group,” he looked at Dimitri and Jade in the semi-darkness, “but in this case I concur. We’ll meet you tomorrow at the Twin Arrows canyon where it goes under the interstate. Allow twenty four hours… give or take.”
Mercy nodded and went to brief the others. Five minutes later they were ready. Barnes, Jade, and Dimitri climbed out of the canyon and headed west, into the open desert. Mercy and the others continued north, along Yaeger Canyon. They reached Wallace Canyon half an hour later.
OK, we’re still about four klicks away from I-40—
Mercy turned and looked at the sky south of their position. A single illumination round burst in the air a few kilometres away.
Maybe we’ve outrun them? They seem to be winding down the search, maybe they’re waiting until the morning?
A low roar cut through the night. Mercy’s head snapped up.
Wait, what was that—?
An engine revved nearby. A second later a blur flew overhead from the left, clearing the canyon. Mercy caught sight of four rugged tires and the underside of a vehicle. It landed with a heavy thump on the right of the narrow canyon.
Scouts. They’ve found us—
Chapter 9
Canyon Diablo
The Chenowth Scorpion Desert Patrol Vehicle skidded to a halt then started to reverse. Flynn scrambled up the canyon slope. He rolled aside to avoid the DPV as the driver executed a 180-degree turn. Flynn took a stun grenade from his webbing and pulled the pin. The DPV’s spotlights blinded Flynn as he threw the M84 stun grenade. The grenade landed inside the vehicle and detonated in the passenger footwell.
The resulting flash and 170 decibel bang incapacitated the vehicle’s occupants. Flynn pulled out his Sig Sauer P320 pistol and fired two rounds into the driver and the passenger. Mercy reached the top of the canyon slope in time to see Flynn’s muzzle flashes. The men’s bodies slumped forward, unmoving. Flames
licked at one of the men’s clothes. The vehicle’s 2.0 litre, 160 horsepower diesel engine idled in neutral. Mercy took in the scene of devastation.
What just happened—?
Flynn blinked and stood up. He stared at the vehicle.
Rose appeared at the edge of the canyon, “There he goes again, showing off. Mr Superfast, like that stunt he pulled back on the train out of DC.”
Superfast, yeah, like WiFi—
Annalise and Tawny appeared at the canyon rim.
“Nice work Flynn, you got the drop on them,” Tawny said, approaching the vehicle.
Mercy looked around, the area was quiet. Distant headlights were probing the desert to the south.
“Quick, kill the lights, keep the engine running. It’ll be a squeeze but we should be able to cling on to this thing and chew up some miles. Tawny, you drive, Rose you take the .50 cal up top. Flynn and Annalise can ride in the side baskets. I’ll navigate in the passenger seat, we’ll go slow, with the lights off, and head north. If we run into trouble we’ll try and evade, but if we’re forced we’ll stand and fight. Everyone happy?” Mercy said.
They searched the two dead bodies then dumped them in the canyon, out of sight. Tawny sat behind the wheel and the others clambered onto the fast attack vehicle. Mercy tapped Tawny’s arm.
“Go slow Tawny, nice and easy… that way,” Mercy said, pointing north. She held the map and compass in her lap and scrutinized each in turn.
Tawny kept their speed to five miles an hour and struck out on Mercy’s bearing, taking them due north, away from the canyon. Fifty minutes later they arrived at the interstate.
Mercy held up a hand and Tawny stopped the vehicle, “This is it, we’re here; I-40. Route 66.” She checked her compass, “Left is west and right is east.”
Tawny started turning the steering wheel left, “West it is then.”
“Wait,” Mercy grabbed Tawny’s arm. “They’ll find out sooner or later we’ve taken out this crew. We’ve got their radios, we can listen in… they’d expect us to take the road. That would be an ambush opportunity for them. So… I reckon we should keep going north, around Canyon Diablo. We can tie up some of their resources searching for us, draw them away from Barnes, Dimitri, and Jade. How much fuel have we got on this thing?”
The Survival Chronicles | Book 8 | Final Mercy Page 5