Dia memorized the route so there was no need to consult the phone Chloe had in her hand. But Chloe, nevertheless, was hinting which way to go as they hurried down the maze of beige, vacant halls.
They hadn’t met a single bit of resistance, and Dia thought that was odd. And as they came around the last corner before the dorms, the place was empty except for Tallon and Jocelyn coming toward them.
“Nothing?” Dia said.
Tallon shook his head. “The place is deserted. I was afraid of this.”
Jocelyn slammed her fist into her thigh. “Dammit, this is my fault.”
“No,” Tallon insisted. “You were right. We had to take the chance.”
Suddenly a thumping boom rocked the building, shook the walls, and rumbled through the floor. Dia half expected the place to start falling apart, but it didn’t. They stood there.
“What the crap was that?” Chloe exclaimed.
Dia looked at Tallon. “Shouldn’t we run?”
He didn’t reply and seemed to be listening to something no one else could hear. “Do you feel that?”
Dia didn’t feel anything. She looked around at the others, and they didn’t seem to be indicating they felt anything either.
Tallon waved his hand. “C’mon, the basement.”
They took off in a jog toward the stairs and traversed the two short flights down. Another thumping boom set off as they came into a wide-open basement. At the far end of the dimly lit room, a glowing flame flickered from the burning fire of a large incinerator.
Dia saw the four men standing, putting bodies into the incinerator. When they saw her and Tallon, they scurried toward their weapons. But Dia opened fire on them, killing two instantly. Tallon took out one more, but stopped her from firing on the last one.
“No,” he insisted.
Dia kept her weapon trained on the man whose wide eyes and slack mouth portrayed his surprise. He dropped his gun on the ground and put his hands up.
Tallon got close to him with the rifle pointed at his chest. “Where are they?”
The man looked around the room, motioned to the many body bags on the floor. “You’re looking at them.”
Dia felt her heart rise up into her throat. She didn’t want to believe Ray was in one of these bags, or already in the furnace, but her instinct told her not to expect anything good to come out of this. A quick glance around the room revealed at least thirty body bags.
Tallon asked the man, “This isn’t all of them, so where are the ones who weren’t infected? They walked out of here somewhere.”
The man looked at Dia, and she couldn’t hold her rage. She turned her rifle around and smashed the butt end into his mouth, knocking him backward into the wall. “Where’s my brother, you piece of shit?”
The man groaned and slid to the floor. He looked up to her, bloodied face, broken teeth, and said, “If he was one of these diseased riddled lab rats, I guess you’re too late.”
Dia wanted to kick him in the face, but she restrained herself. She knew he was just some piece of garbage being paid to dispose of the evidence. But he was still a scumbag who deserved to die.
Tallon squatted to face the man. “Where are the kids who weren’t sick?”
The man struggled to maintain some composure. “Gone.”
“Who are these kids?”
He seethed in pain. “These were the incubators. Test subjects.” He spat and laughed. “You’re too late.”
“We don’t have time for this.” Tallon shot the man in the chest. “We need to get to the inlet now.”
They hurried outside and jumped on the bikes.
Speeding up the twisting roads, Dia looked out to the ocean on their right hand side, then glanced back to Jocelyn and Chloe on the other bike behind them. She’d had just about enough of this being a passenger stuff. Learning to ride one of these things was paramount.
When they arrived at the inlet, they saw the lights of a ship chugging away from the shore. Dia felt like another blow to the effort could derail it. Seeing all those body bags in the building made her sick. Now seeing that boat pull away with her brother on it sent a swell of anger into her like she didn’t even know was possible. She worked hard to control the shake that wanted to rumble into her body.
“Hey.” Chloe touched her arm. “Reel it back in, honey. That much anger leads to mistakes.”
Tallon smiled at his sister. “What lesson are you overlooking?”
Chloe wrinkled her nose. “Anger properly channeled is motivation to do the impossible.”
Dia snarled, “I’ve never been more motivated.”
Tallon nodded while looking at the inlet. “We’re going to need a boat.”
Jocelyn stepped past him. “A fast one… and I know just where to get it.”
They ran down a sandy footpath that dropped them off on the beach about a hundred feet from the water. The hard-packed sand led them to a small marina with about ten boats anchored and bobbing to the rhythm of the sea.
Jocelyn hopped up on the docks and down to the second boat. Dia read the words Feature Film on the side of the boat as they climbed aboard. Jocelyn rummaged through a box near the steering wheel, and then the boat engine sprang to life.
Tallon unwound the ropes that anchored the vessel to the docks. In a matter of seconds, they were springing away from the shore in chase of the much larger ship. Dia hadn’t been on a small boat like this since she was about ten years old. She didn’t really like the feeling of the sway and surge of the engine as the craft cut through the black water. Fortunately, it didn’t last long as they closed the gap quickly on the slower boat.
Jocelyn cut the engine and let the boat slow to a pace close to that of the larger vessel. Tallon took two quick steps, planted his foot on the deck rail, and jumped onto the bigger boat, catching onto the ladder rungs. Dia got inspired and followed his move. They both quickly reached the deck.
Dia looked down, saw a rope, and tossed it down into the smaller boat, allowing Jocelyn and Chloe to get a grip and tie off.
Jocelyn finished hooking the smaller craft and quickly climbed up. They settled on the deck. The boat was large. Not as big as the one they were on earlier to abduct the mayor’s brother, but it was close. The sea was choppy, making the boat feel unstable as it moved full speed into the darkness of the ocean.
Dia slid down her night vision goggles, bringing the dark to light. She took up on Tallon’s side, ready to mow down anyone in their paths. The first movement came from her left. She waited for him to reach for his weapon to make sure, and she shot him.
A burst of rounds from Tallon’s gun took down another guard, and they moved forward. It was an unfair advantage having these night vision goggles. It made it so easy to see, their adversaries stood almost no chance. At first.
Suddenly a barrage of gunfire erupted from behind a stack of large pipes that spanned the deck. Jocelyn screamed out in pain as a bullet slammed into her. They took fire until they were able to get to cover behind some equipment and boxes near the port side of the boat.
Tallon turned to Jocelyn. “Where’re you hit?”
She groaned, out of breath. “Huuuuh—I think I’m okay. It hit my vest. Oh, man, huuuh—I can’t breathe.”
Tallon jumped up and joined Dia in returning fire. “Keep your shots low on the steel deck, hope for ricochets.”
Dia took the cue and sprayed rounds into the deck. She could see the sparks through the goggles light up the surface and deflect all over the place. She saw one shooter, slightly exposed. He may not have known he was, but she could see his backside. With a precision she wasn’t even sure she possessed, she picked him off.
Tallon spun down and sat to reload a new magazine on his rifle. Dia wasn’t sure how many shots she had, she forgot to count. She knew there were thirty in these magazines, but she’d lost count at about fifteen.
With that in mind, she emptied her rounds into the deck just in front of the cover where the shooters were and started to reload, remo
ving one of the full magazines from her vest and slipping it into place.
Tallon leaned into her. “These are Frank’s men. They have night vision too, and they’re good.”
Dia nodded. “That explains why they saw us before we saw them.”
He turned to her. “Here’s the plan. I want you to cover me. Every two seconds fire two or three rounds. But stay here.”
“Why can’t I follow?”
“Because Chloe and Joce need your cover.”
“No, Tallon,” Jocelyn said. “Go, we’re fine.” She raised her rifle and propped it on the edge of the container. “I got this cover position, you two advance.”
Chloe nodded. “We got your backs.”
Tallon stood, fired, and started running. Dia covered him with three shots and ran after him. She heard the burst of rounds from Chloe and Jocelyn and ran past Tallon’s position to the next vantage point behind a pile of sandbags. Looking up, she saw two men standing on top of the wall of crates. They looked around, blind in the darkness. She turned her rifle on them and fired.
One man went down, while the other took the hit and still managed to return wild fire. Dia tried to get out of the way, but the rounds hit her with a punch—punch to the chest and shoulder areas sending her backward and sprawling to the steel deck with a thud. The pain was intense.
Tallon bent to her, yelling over the sound of gunfire. “You okay?”
“No,” she replied while reaching up to feel the area. It was wet. Looking at her hand, the blood looked weird under the night vision goggles. The worst of the pain was starting to fade a little bit already, but was replaced by a burning sensation that felt like fire was boring its way through her body.
“Does your back hurt?”
“Yeah, it does.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“That means’s there’s an exit wound. We like those.”
“We do?”
He fired off a round. “Exit wounds are our friends.”
“Doesn’t feel friendly—it feels angry.”
Tallon examined her. “You’re good, one to the vest, one to the crest. The blood loss will be minimal in that area. Hopefully it didn’t break your clavicle.”
“Silver linings.”
“Can you fire your weapon?”
Dia put the rifle against her right shoulder, but there was no way it could take the kickback. “Don’t think so.”
“Use your pistols.” Tallon stood again and fired a few rounds. “Stay put, give me cover. I’m going below deck.”
“I can go.”
“I don’t want you to. I have to do this part on my own.” He handed her two grenades. “Wait ten seconds and toss one of these into that bank of cover. Then wait another twenty and toss the other.”
Dia nodded and he scurried away, staying low to the ground.
* * *
Tallon snaked between two wooden crates and sliced inside one of the large pipes. Under cover, he placed his rifle down and screwed the silencer onto one of his modified Glock pistols.
Through the other side of the tube, he came up behind a man and silently shot him in the back of the head. The first loud boom from Dia’s grenade rocked the night. It was his signal to make his move, and he jetted across the deck to the steps, which led him below deck and into the light. He stripped off his night vision goggles and raised the pistol.
After moving through the galley, he came to an open room where a couple dozen children sat on the floor, hands tied, wearing white biohazard helmets that blinded them from the world.
He walked past them and into a hallway past some doors. One of the doors sprang open and slammed into him, knocking him back into the other wall. He raised his gun, but the attempt was blocked.
A close quarters struggle ensued and ended when Tallon got hold of his knife and plunged it into the attacker’s midsection. He retrieved his pistol and came into another room where his old buddy, Frank, stood with a lone boy at his side. Like the others, he was blindfolded and hands tied in plastic zips. Unlike the others, Frank had a gun to his head.
“Tallon, I knew that was you making that racket up there.” He pointed up. “I didn’t expect all your friends though. I must admit you had more backup than I estimated you’d get. Guess I should have expanded my team.” He winked. “I expected the Sifter girl, after all.” He pushed his gun into the kid’s plastic shrouded head. “Isn’t this what she came for? I figured that, so I singled him out in case I needed leverage.”
“You always were a good soldier, Frank.”
“I always will be good soldier, Tallon. Let me tell you my story.”
“Everyone has a story, I don’t care about yours.”
“Well, you’re gonna want to hear this one. You’re probably asking yourself why you don’t just shoot me. We both know you could kill me. I know you’re a crack shot.”
“I could.”
“But you won’t. And I know why.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you know my game plan, and you know I’ve built a contingency plan into this. And you’ll never disarm that thing.” Frank pointed to a huge clay brick of C-4 sitting under an LCD clock counting backward. It was at eight and a half minutes.
Tallon raised his chin. “You don’t think I could disarm it?”
“No chance, old buddy. It’s got ten failsafe mechanisms built into it. This boat is sinking one way or another. It’s just a matter of when. It can either be in a few minutes or a few hours.”
“Where’s your boy Maverick? I know he could.”
“Unfortunately for you, I’m pretty sure you killed him up on the deck. In fact, congrats are in order, soldier, you’ve killed most of your old team.”
“No, they were your team. My old team is alive and well, living clean lives.”
Frank laughed. “Clean lives? What a hypocrite you are. You can lie to your friends up there, but you can’t lie to me. This mess has your fingerprints all over it. The blood of these kids is on your hands. I just got here—you’ve been running this show for years.”
“I had no idea Cortech was doing this.”
“I suppose not. You’re a good soldier too. You just turned the other way and collected your paycheck.”
“Perhaps I was purposely blind.”
“Of course you were. Who wouldn’t be? Arlon pays well. I wouldn’t be out here sinking a boat full of kids if he didn’t.”
Tallon read something in his face. “Why wouldn’t you just kill them and toss them into the incinerator with the others?”
Frank just smirked.
“Because you weren’t going to kill them, were you?”
Frank returned the same poker-face smile.
Tallon knew he was right. “Where were you brining them, Frank?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I guess you’ll never know now.”
“You could tell me.”
Frank shook his head slowly. “No point in that. I do my job and shut up just like you. I’m on a need to know regimen.”
“I guess we all have a price.”
“Some higher than others.”
“C’mon, Frank. What say we let bygones be bygones and team up again to take down Arlon?”
“What’s in it for me?”
“How about a million?”
Frank looked to the ceiling. “Dunno, man, seems kinda low.”
“What’s Arlon paying you?”
“A lot more than that.”
“So what would it take?”
Frank eyed the floor. “I’d do it for four.”
“That seems a bit greedy. I just eliminated all the guys you were going to split it with.”
Frank nodded thoughtfully. “That’s true. You did me a favor there.”
“Let’s just meet in the middle at two and a half.”
“Cash?”
“Cash, untraceable one hundred dollar bills in a duffle bag.” Tallon glanced over at the bomb. Only four minutes remained on the clock. “
C’mon, Frank, what’s there to think about? You can take two million—and live, or you can take two bullets and die. What’s it going to be?”
Frank pushed the kid away. “Okay, you talked me into it.” He moved over to the bomb. He punched in a code on the keypad and turned to face Tallon. “There, all done.”
Tallon lowered his pistol. “Where were you taking them, Frank?”
Frank shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. You weren’t going to kill them.”
“This boat was sinking. I’ll say that much.”
“But not with these kids on it.”
“You’re always the sharpest pencil in the drawer, Tallon. But unfortunately for you, you press too hard and snap off your own tip.” Frank then flicked his wrist, a handgun popped into his hand.
Tallon quickly raised his pistol and pulled his trigger.
Both guns fired. Both men went down.
Tallon took the hit in his chest in the best possible spot of his bulletproof vest. Frank took the hit just above his vest in the neck area. Tallon willed himself up to his feet and looked down at Frank, who was gasping for air through his destroyed windpipe.
Tallon was not one to let someone suffer, so he put his gun to Frank’s head. “Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll end you quickly.”
Chapter 35
Keeping her mind off the pain wasn’t easy. But Dia did the best she could to just push through. After the final grenade exploded, she hadn’t heard another pop of gunfire, and she hadn’t seen any movement. There was also no sign of Chloe or Jocelyn, and that made her worry. She wasn’t worried about Tallon. She had a gut feeling that guy was virtually indestructible.
The battle between trepidation and determination drove her to her feet and out of cover, keeping her back to the water. There was some movement to her left, and she turned and saw the blonde mane of Jocelyn blowing in the sea breeze.
“Hey.” Jocelyn approached quickly. “I think we’re secure. Where’s Tallon?”
“He went below deck.” Dia pointed. “Where’s Chloe?”
Sifters Page 19