"Get out of NY now. I will distract. F."
Good gracious, Francesco had found him asleep and, presumably, run into the city taking the hunters with him. What if it had been anyone else? How long ago? He ignored the elevated vitals and red flashing warnings on his BonesWare and checked the time. It was now after nine. If they'd had any sense, Janice and Ross would have gotten through the tunnel and be out the other side by now.
He scrunched up the note and put it in his pocket. Hauling the pack onto his back, he slipped across the road and climbed the low wall that separated the tunnel lanes from the other traffic.
He'd seen gridlock everywhere, but nothing like this. Cars were nose to tail in every direction and he was forced to pick his way through them, keeping his eyes away from the windows for fear of what he might see inside.
The entrance to the tunnel was only a few hundred yards on, but it was half an hour before he saw its rectangular concrete entrance looming in front of him. He pulled his weapon from a pocket and popped the cylinder out. Three rounds left and none to replace them. He only had one option, so he found the first occupied car, a big SUV, drew in a deep breath and pulled open the door.
He reached in and opened the glovebox. Nothing. No great surprise, but he'd hoped to strike lucky first time.
"Solly!"
He snapped up, banging his head on the roof and spun backwards. Ross was getting out of the back seat of the car.
"What the hell were you doing in there?" Solly said, embracing the boy.
Janice had climbed out and stood behind him. "We figured we'd hide where no one else would think to look. Seems we were wrong."
"You've been in this car with... him," Solly said, gesturing at the deceased occupant of the driver's seat, "for hours?"
"I opened the trunk a tiny bit, so we could breathe," Ross replied.
Solly gestured at the tunnel. "Well, I'm sure glad to find you. But we need some more weapons before we go in there."
"I reckon you won't find anything in these ones," Janice said. "Maybe we'll find some in the tunnel."
Ross raised a flashlight. "I do have this, though. Found it in the trunk. Didn't dare turn it on, but figured we could use it in the tunnel, once we're well inside."
"Well done," Solly said as he headed toward the walkway and into the blackness of the tunnel.
It stank inside. The ventilation system had failed with the power supply, and, though the engines of the vehicles had long since died with their occupants, there was an altogether more odious smell to the place. Solly didn't know whether the air would be breathable further along, but they had little choice. Going back was not an option.
They'd gone no more than a hundred and fifty yards inside when Ross vomited.
"I gotta get out!" he said as he leaned over the rail and hurled out his guts.
Maybe he was right. The tunnel was almost two miles long and it'd take them at least half an hour to get through, assuming they didn't succumb to the poisonous-smelling air along the way. Janice was also looking back to the entrance hopefully.
And then something dropped across the opening before remaining there, silhouetted against the light and jerking fitfully. As Solly's dark-adjusted eyes came into focus, he could see that it was a man, hanging by the neck, his feet kicking until, finally, he convulsed and went still. Ice poured through Solly's guts.
A voice echoed down the tunnel. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
It was O'Dowd.
"You see what happens to traitors?" the voice said. "Thanks for dropping the note, Masters, or we might never have known how you'd a'gotten away."
Solly reflexively stuck his hand in his pocket. The note had gone. He'd condemned his friend. The vomit rose in his throat and it was all he could do to keep it down.
"Now, you come out, all of you, and I'll be merciful, I promise. We're one pair of hands down, so you can make amends, do your penance, and rejoin us. Or you can die in there. There ain't no way you can get through. Come back and receive our forgiveness."
Solly could just see O'Dowd standing in the tunnel entrance, a shotgun raised to his shoulder. He knew well enough that the man was lying—he'd pretty soon give Solly the same treatment he'd given poor Francesco. As for Janice...
She touched his shoulder and he turned to see that she'd drawn the hood of the coat he'd given her around her head, pulling the zip over the nose and mouth. She helped Ross take off his sweater and wrap it around his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.
"He doesn't know for sure we're here," she whispered.
"But he's probably right—we can't get through, the air's too bad."
She gave a little shrug. "I'd rather suffocate than go back to him. We both know what he'd do with us."
Solly pulled a shirt from his pack and twisted it into a scarf as O'Dowd continued to taunt them.
"Don't make me come in there after you," he crooned. "Come back and experience forgiveness. You don't want to die, do you? There's no way out alive but back to me."
Solly took one final look at the figure hanging in the entrance as it swung slowly in the wind, said a silent prayer and jogged into the darkness.
Chapter 14
Despite all he'd been through, that journey through the tunnel was more horrific than any of it. Every fiber of his being implored him to run as quickly as he could along the walkway, but the path was not clear, and they dared not turn on the flashlight for fear of alerting O'Dowd. So, they stumbled through the stinking darkness, feeling their way with their feet, praying they wouldn't step in anything decomposing on the concrete.
Rats scurried in the darkness and their panicked minds invented ghosts and zombies shuffling all around them. Every now and again, they'd hear what sounded like a car door opening or something falling from the back of a truck, but they saw nothing in that blind blanketing blackness. Solly began to wonder whether the stink had poisoned his mind and robbed him of sight, but Ross was the worst affected of the three of them. Almost as soon as the entrance had disappeared behind them, he'd cried out, begging them to wait, crying in the darkness. Janice had comforted him as best she could but, in the end, she and Solly had been forced to practically drag him along until he'd recovered a little and would move forward under his own power.
The all-pervading stink got worse the further they went. Solly could taste it in his throat; a kind of caustic ammonia-laden miasma. He fought back the impulse to cough at every breath. As they picked their way along the path, Solly kept scanning up ahead, hoping desperately to see the end of the tunnel. It was now mid-morning in the world outside, and he yearned to have the sky above him, however cold or wet it might be on the other side of the tunnel.
His BonesWare provided the only light they dared use. It showed they'd been inside for nearly an hour when Ross's muffled cry went up. "Light!"
A tiny glint could be seen in the distance. It looked entirely the wrong shape, but they hastened toward it like beggars in a soup kitchen line. The closer they got to it, the easier it was to find a path between the bodies and the debris. A gentle breeze blew fresh air into their grateful lungs as they ran the last hundred yards.
A truck lay across the entrance, blocking it completely. It looked as though the driver had tried to reverse out of the tunnel but had become totally stuck. Behind it, vehicles lined up in the open air. Solly, Janice and Ross ran out of the walkway and into a gray morning that felt as welcome as the first spring day after a long, hard winter.
Solly tore off his scarf and tossed it away. They jogged up the cutting that led to the tunnel and, as they reached the top, emerged at street level.
"Where are we?" Ross said.
"New Jersey."
Ross looked back at the tunnel entrance behind them. "Will they come after us?"
"I seriously doubt it," Solly said. "Would you go through all that for three fugitives? There are easier pickings on their side."
Janice came to stand beside them. "Where now?"
"We stay o
n this road out of town, then we find a car. For now, though, I think we deserve a rest and you, at least, need to find some clothes."
He smiled at her as she stood wrapped in his coat. Her skin and clothes were covered in filthy brown and black streaks from the journey in the dark. She looked like a waif plucked from the streets of Dickensian London.
Solly looked away when she turned to him. "I know," she said, "I need a shower. Any decent hotels around here? Maybe with room service?"
She grabbed his arm as they walked into Jersey City.
"Wow," Ross said. They'd taken a left from the tunnel exit and were heading toward the nearest shopping center when, as they turned a corner, a huge black building rose into the sky.
Solly gazed upwards. It looked as though a mirrored cube had been dropped into Jersey City and sat there now, reflecting the sky and streets, as if some celestial blackjack player was waiting to see what he'd rolled. "That's the Lee Building," he said. "Right there is where her husband was standing when he announced her death."
The lectern was still in place, surrounded by a lighting rig, but the little plaza on which it stood was otherwise surprisingly clean. Indeed, the building looked entirely untouched. It was as if the events of the previous week had passed it by. Solly moved them on but, as they walked by, he couldn't help the feeling that they were being watched. There was no point in trying to investigate since the Lee Building had become synonymous with Fort Knox for its legendary level of security. That, rather than any mysterious caretaker, could explain the fact that it remained pristine. And yet Solly didn't relax until they'd rounded the corner.
"Help me. Please!"
Solly fumbled in his pocket and drew out the revolver. A man was on his knees holding up his hands imploringly. Three hooded figures stood around him and one of them was pointing a handgun at the kneeling man's head.
"Hey!" Solly shouted. Ross stood beside him brandishing a knife. Janice had drawn back as she was unarmed.
The gunman swung around, bringing his gun to bear. Solly squeezed the trigger and the man reeled back, dropping his weapon. He ran off, holding his arm as the report cracked from building to building. Ross leaped forward and picked up the pistol, training it on the three as they disappeared into Macy's.
"Are you okay?" Solly said as he helped the kneeling man to his feet.
The man nodded. He was dark haired and of Mediterranean appearance. "My name is Khaled," he said in accented English.
Solly's guess had been a few hundred miles out, but he didn't have time to ask any questions. Khaled pulled something out of the bag that hung from his shoulders. "There is no time—they’ll have heard the gunshot. You must take this and keep it safe, do you understand?"
He held up a black glossy cylinder the size of a can of hairspray.
"What is it? Some sort of data archive?"
Khaled shook his head. "I can only say that it is the key to preventing the extermination of humanity."
"You're a bit late," Solly snapped, gesturing around at the deserted, garbage strewn, streets. He suspected Khaled was a few bolts short of a construction set.
"You must understand!" Khaled said, shaking Solly's arms. "I could not prevent the culling. I tried; honestly I did. But she was nothing if not thorough. The final apocalypse is coming when all that remain will be eliminated, save the chosen. This holds the key and if you value your own life or the lives of those left alive, you will keep it safe. Until I find you, or I send someone for it."
His eyes were darting back and forth as he scanned the street. "But, if it isn't me, then make sure you give it to the right person. We should have a code word. Yes, a code word."
Khaled saw something behind them. "How about crow? No: raven. Only give it up if they use the code word raven. Will you do it?"
"You're insane." Solly said. "Who the hell are you? Where have you been hiding?"
"I cannot say too much. They will be here soon and there is no time. You are a man of technology, yes?" Khaled’s accent was strong and his voice laced with fear.
Solly nodded, wondering how he was going to get away from this madman. "I'm an app developer. Or I was, back when such things mattered."
"Who did you work for?"
"Taylor and Walsh," Solly said. "But so what?"
"Then I have found the right man. This cylinder contains an encrypted data archive that must be protected at all costs. When I can, I will send someone to retrieve it and we will try to prevent the second apocalypse."
"What second apocalypse?"
"I told you! The final cleansing. They think it will leave them in charge, but I know the truth. It is total extermination. Now take it, please!"
Khaled thrust the cylinder into Solly's hands.
"They are coming, you must hide, or they will kill you!"
Solly needed no further encouragement to leave this madman behind him and, without another look, he led them into the first shop they came across.
"Wait," Ross hissed. "I want to see what happens." So, they crouched in the broken glass of the display and peered out. Khaled hadn't moved. He was looking in their direction, but then his head snapped around. They could hear the sound of many boots approaching. A half-dozen figures in battledress with shiny black body armor appeared. The leader raised a stick and brought it down with an electrical crack on the back of Khaled's leg. With a cry, he collapsed to the ground and Solly felt Ross moving. "No. He said not to interfere."
They watched as Khaled was dragged away.
"Where do you think they're taking him," Janice whispered.
"Oh, I know exactly where they're going," Solly responded. "Didn't you see the logo on their helmets? They're from the Lee Corporation."
Ross began to move. "Let's follow. I bet they're taking him back to the Lee Building, we might be able to see how to get in."
"Something tells me we don't want to go in there," Solly said. "Think about it, the world falls apart on the night Annabel Lee dies. Except that the corporation she founded still exists? And it has its own private army? Come on, we need to get out of Dodge and fast."
It was an exhausted Solly who walked leaden footed along the 78 out of Jersey City. It was mid-afternoon, and the sky had cleared so he could see across New York. The Empire State Building stood near the horizon, amid lesser towers and now behind his left shoulder. A mist lingered in the silent, unmoving streets nearer at hand and he could see the occasional flicker of flame in the shadows –the only indication that life persisted anywhere in New York.
They'd had decent luck in their scavenging. Janice was now wearing a new and practical ensemble of olive colored camping coat and pants with rubber boots stowed in her new pack. They'd replenished their supply of energy bars and had found several two-liter bottles of clean water that they'd washed with. They now each carried two bottles as there was no telling how long it would be before they found drinkable water. Solly had some purification tablets and a small camping stove in his backpack but, boiled or not, he didn't want to have to drink the water of a polluted and dying city.
On leaving the tunnel, Solly had planned to find somewhere to hide in town overnight so they could start fully refreshed in the morning, but the encounter with Khaled and the discovery that the Lee Corporation was still at least partially functional and fully armed had persuaded them to make tracks.
So, they trudged along the road, surrounded by the bones of civilization. There, to his left, a green arm stood upraised, hand extended to the sky in token of greeting. He found himself wondering if any ships would ever sail into the bay again.
But he'd mainly been thinking about the shiny black cylinder Khaled had given him. He'd examined it endlessly as they'd walked. Ross and Janice had quickly lost interest; it had no markings whatsoever and, although it seemed obvious that the cylinder must contain something, there was no seam, no way to open it, nothing more than a proprietary data port beneath a rubber cover at the base. To his companions, it was just the random cast-off of a man who'd lost
his mind. In his heart, however, Solly knew it was more than that. Maybe he was deluding himself, but this object, whatever it was, had given him a more immediate purpose beyond simply heading along the seemingly endless road to Texas. He had to keep it safe.
"Hey, check this out," Ross said. He'd run to catch up with Solly and held out the gun he'd taken from Khaled's attacker. Solly had forgotten the boy had it and was just reaching out to take it when Ross ejected the magazine and handed it to him. "It's empty."
He was right. Solly took the gun, a Ruger semi-automatic, and examined it. Surely the man who had been aiming it at Khaled had known his gun was empty? So, he'd been bluffing. For all they knew, Khaled might have been trying to palm off the cylindrical object to them. Good grief, the man he'd shot might simply have been protecting his family from something that could easily have been a bomb. He wiped his eyes and sighed, gazing out at the horizon. After all, that man might have been right, and they were now carrying a deadly weapon out of New York and into the countryside. He took another look at the cylinder. It was as inanimate as before but retained a slight warmth to the touch that suggested it had a power source.
"Do you think we could find a car now?" Janice said, interrupting his thoughts.
"What? Oh, yeah, why not."
As they'd moved out of the city center, the road had become less packed with vehicles. Until now, it had still been impassable but, as he gazed along it, Solly saw that they might be able to force a path.
He handed the pistol back to Ross. "Here, you look after this for now. Let's see if any of these cars is usable."
"This one," Ross called after they'd examined a few vehicles. He was standing beside a pickup. The door was open, but the driver was still there, lying in the road alongside his vehicle. The key was in the ignition and Solly carefully stepped over the body to get up into the seat. With a silent prayer, he turned the key.
The Long Night Box Set Page 12