Down

by Brett Battles

  “Down!” Martina repeated.

  Riley dropped.

  __________

  AS SOON AS Riley was out of the way, Martina fired, but instead of rapidly emptying the magazine like her friend had done, she took a second to aim each shot. Three men went down, but the other two were able to hop the center barrier and duck behind it before she got to them. Of the three she hit, two appeared critical enough that she didn’t think they would be getting up anytime soon. The third, however, pushed back to his knees and raised his gun before she realized what he was doing.

  His shot sailed wide, but her answering bullet did not.

  Keeping her gun aimed at the area where the other two had disappeared, she moved over to her friends and was horrified to find Noreen’s shirt covered in blood.

  “Martina?” Noreen whispered.

  Martina grabbed her friend’s hand. “I’m here.”

  “We…found you.”

  Martina’s gaze switched back and forth between the divider and Noreen. “You did.”

  “I was so…worried.”

  “I was worried about you, too.”

  “Did you…did you find…him?”

  “What?”

  “Ben. Did you find…him?”

  “I found him.”

  Noreen smiled for a moment and then winced in pain.

  “You’re going to be fine,” Martina said. She drew her hand away. “Hang in there.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll be right back.” Martina looked at Riley and mouthed, “Watch her.”

  Staying in a crouch, she moved over to the divider and carefully rose high enough to see over the concrete wall. The area where she’d expected the men to be hiding was deserted. As she started to rise a few more inches to get a better look, hands grabbed her and yanked her over the divider.

  Sour breath poured down on her from a laughing bald man. “A new one. Our lucky day.”

  Another man, with hair in a ponytail, jerked Martina’s gun out of her hand and shoved its muzzle into her cheek. “Bitch shot our friends,” he said. “I’m thinking we should kill her now.”

  “Oh, she’s going to die all right,” bald guy said. “We’re just going to have a little fun making it happen.” He tapped Martina’s cheek as if she were a child. “That all right with you, honey?”

  Martina stared a hole through him.

  The man laughed again as he stood up. “Hey, kids,” he said in the direction of Riley, Noreen, and Craig. “Hide-and-seek’s over. We win. Why don’t you all come on over here and we’ll—”

  A rifle blasted, but it was the sound of a bullet zipping through the air right before it pierced the bald man’s head that Martina would remember. As the man crumpled to the ground, his partner whipped around, trying to see where the shot had come from.

  The next bullet caught him square between the eyes, laying him out on the asphalt only a foot from his friend.

  Unsure who had done the shooting, Martina stayed on the ground.

  “It’s all right,” a familiar voice yelled. “It’s all clear now.”

  Martina rose to her feet and spotted Pax and Nyla standing on the overpass. Pax was cradling a rifle against his chest, while Nyla was slinging hers back over her shoulder.

  “You all right?” Pax called down.

  “I’m okay,” Martina said. “But Noreen’s been shot.”

  She looked over at her friends. Riley’s face was drawn, her eyes wet. Craig’s didn’t look any better. Between them lay Noreen, her eyes closed, her chest unmoving.

  “No!” Martina leapt over the barrier and ran back to them. She picked up Noreen’s head. “Hey, Noreen, come on. You’re going to be fine.”

  Riley put a gentle hand on Martina’s shoulder. “She’s gone.”

  “No. She can’t be. She can’t!”

  Noreen had been Martina’s best friend for as long as she could remember. How could she be dead? Martina tilted Noreen’s head back and started to administer CPR. She was still pumping Noreen’s chest when Ben, Pax, Nyla, and the others reached them.

  “It’s over,” Ben whispered in her ear, a soft hand on her back.

  “No!” She blew more air into Noreen’s mouth.

  “Let her go.”

  “I can’t.”

  He wrapped his fingers over her shoulders but didn’t pull. “You have to. For her.”

  Martina blew in another breath. As she moved back, she looked at her friend’s face.

  She could see now that Noreen was gone. Gone and never coming back.

  She leaned back down, pulled her friend into her arms, and cried.

  __________

  THEY FOUND A station wagon to put Noreen in and returned to Dodger Stadium, where they buried her that afternoon on a hill overlooking downtown.

  Martina and Ben remained by the grave long after everyone else left. For a while, neither said a word, but finally, slowly, Martina began to talk, telling stories about Noreen—fighting over boys as far back as elementary school, helping each other cheat on tests, and learning together to play softball. She managed a few smiles at her friend’s occasional cluelessness, but at the end, there were only more tears.

  “You can’t blame yourself,” Ben said.

  How could she not? First, she had abandoned Noreen, and in the end she had not acted quickly enough to save her.

  “If you hadn’t insisted on looking for them, all three would be dead now,” he told her. “You saved Riley and Craig. That’s what you need to remember.”

  She leaned against him.

  He was sweet and he meant well, and maybe someday she’d see it his way, but not today.

  28

  NB016

  10:14 AM EST

  STAYING LOW, OMAR flew the helicopter up the East River until Ash thought they’d gone far enough. Ash then gave Chloe the signal that it was her turn.

  She hit the SEND button on Vintner’s phone and raised it to her ear.

  __________

  CELESTE CLICKED ACCEPT the moment the call was directed to her computer. “Vintner?”

  “No, Director. It’s Reni Barton.”

  “Why am I speaking to you again? Where the hell is Commander Vintner?”

  In a hesitant voice, Barton said, “Ma’am, the, um, I’m sorry to report that the commander ran into an ambush on level eight. The medic has him sedated but he needs medical attention.”

  Celeste closed her eyes for a moment to rein in her frustration. Then she slowly said, “I need you to tell whoever’s in charge that I need one of the helicopters back here immediately.”

  “That won’t be a problem, ma’am. We’re actually inbound to you right now with the commander so he can get some help. The pilot tells me we’re only a few minutes out.”

  Celeste cocked her head. “You are?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Finally, a break.

  “Tell the pilot not to power down after he lands,” she ordered. “He needs to get me out of here.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “Just do it!” Celeste disconnected the call. To Dalton, she said, “Tell everyone in group A we depart in ten minutes with or without them. Once we reach NB110, I’ll send the helicopter back for group B.”

  “Yes, Director.”

  Celeste rose from her control-room chair for what she knew would be the last time. Another base, perhaps NB110 in Pennsylvania, would be the new Project Eden main headquarters. But she could figure that out later.

  Right now she needed to pack.

  __________

  CHLOE DISCONNECTED THE call. “We’re cleared for landing.”

  Ash smiled and said over the intercom, “Omar, take us in.”

  Omar rose until they were hiding in the clouds before he headed toward NB016.

  “Half mile,” he reported a minute later. “Clouds are a little thin here. If we swing a little east, that would put the sun at our back and delay them from noticing we’re not the helicopter they’re expecting.�
�

  “Do it,” Ash said. He looked at the rest of the team. “Radios on and weapons ready.”

  __________

  ODD, KLEINMAN THOUGHT, a few seconds after the helicopter appeared on the radar screen.

  The aircraft was approaching from a more easterly position than he had expected. Dream Sky was almost due north of NB016. Maybe they’d been forced to fly around a portion of the growing storm.

  Whatever the reason, he needed to be the first to greet them so he could brief the strike team on the base’s situation.

  He left control and headed for the dedicated stairwell to the roof.

  __________

  CELESTE ENTERED THE combination for the safe in her executive office and pulled it open. Inside were three portable drives. The first one she pulled out contained all the information she’d been compiling on the other senior Project members, especially her three colleagues on the directorate. The drive was her key to becoming the principal director. She stuck it in her travel bag.

  The other two drives held her personal copies of Project codes and the Project’s detailed plans for restarting humanity post-epidemic, including the locations and control-override codes for all Project Eden bases. Normally, the principal director was the only one who’d possess this comprehensive information, but since the job was currently being shared, all four members of the directorate had a copy.

  She filled the rest of the case with a few items of clothing and some personal items, then called the control room. “Ms. Dalton?”

  “Yes, Director?”

  “What’s the ETA on the helicopter?”

  “Preparing to land, ma’am. They should touch down within the min—”

  Celeste hung up, having heard all she needed to. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

  __________

  KLEINMAN STOOD NEAR the landing pad, hearing more than seeing the descending aircraft.

  The glare of the sun through the clouds made the helicopter look like an indistinct dark blob until it was no more than a hundred feet from touching down.

  He narrowed his eyes, thinking the sun was playing tricks on him, but no. Vintner’s helicopters were both black underneath. The one about to land was gray. If the strike force had resorted to using another vehicle, wouldn’t it have reported that?

  Of course it would.

  Kleinman ran for the stairwell door.

  __________

  “GOT A RUNNER,” Sealy said over comm.

  On the roof, the man who’d been standing near the landing pad was now running toward the only visible doorway. Ash knew the guy had realized something was wrong.

  “Take him out.”

  A single shot, most of its sound lost in the open sky.

  The running man was flung forward onto the deck and skidded several feet before coming to a stop.

  Sealy fired again.

  The man’s body lifted briefly as the second shot entered his back.

  “Target terminated,” Sealy said.

  “Set us down,” Ash ordered.

  __________

  CELESTE JAMMED HER hand against the scanner next to the stairwell entrance. As soon as the lock disengaged, she shoved the door open and headed up.

  She wasn’t the first to arrive. She could hear several others above her, nearing the top. When they opened the door, the whoop-whoop-whoop of the helicopter flooded in. A few seconds later, she heard someone yell.

  The stairs switchbacked halfway up. As Celeste made the turn, she was surprised to see two people heading down. The moment they saw her, one of them shouted and pointed back at the twenty-second floor. The beat of the helicopter was too loud for her to understand what he was saying, but she could see the fear on this face.

  Trusting her instincts, she retraced her steps and pulled the door open. Immediately, several people who’d been in the hallway tried to push into the stairwell.

  “Goddammit!” Celeste shouted. “Get back! All of you!”

  As soon as they realized who she was, they moved out of the way.

  Celeste pushed through them and grabbed one of the men who’d been on the stairs with her. “What the hell is going on?”

  “When we came out on the roof, someone in the helicopter started shooting at us.”

  “What?” she said in disbelief.

  “Michaels was hit, but there was another body already there. We just barely got back inside.”

  A boom rocked the stairwell, the shockwave rattling the door.

  Everyone panicked.

  From beyond the door came the sound of boots pounding down the steps.

  “Out of my way!” Celeste commanded. “Move! Move!”

  Shoving her bag in front of her, she pushed her way through the crowd. She had to get to the safe room. It was her only chance.

  __________

  THE HELICOPTER WAS still descending when the door the dead man had been running toward opened and three people emerged. When the one in the lead saw the body, he stopped and yelled at his friends.

  Sealy’s rifle cracked again. The closest man dropped to the ground, but his two companions had already ducked back through the door before Sealy could get off another shot.

  Twenty seconds later, the helicopter touched down and everyone jumped out.

  Chloe reached the door a moment before Ash did. She yanked it but it didn’t open.

  “Back pouch,” Ash said to Chloe, turning so she could get into his backpack.

  He heard her unzip the pocket and remove a small chunk of plastic explosive. She slapped it against the door next to the handle and shoved in the timer-based detonator.

  “Everyone back,” she warned.

  After she set the timer to five seconds, she and Ash hustled around the side of the raised landing pad and knelt down.

  Most of the explosion was focused inward, but a few pieces of the metal frame whipped through the air and landed near them. The moment the blast ended, they shot to their feet and ran into the stairwell.

  Chloe repeated her explosives act on the locked door at the bottom, using less than she had before. After they moved halfway back up the stairs, the door ripped from its hinges and flew into the space beyond.

  Sealy went first and turned right. Ash followed, turning left.

  “Clear,” Sealy said.

  “Clear,” Ash echoed.

  The rest of the team entered the hallway and split in two.

  “We’ll take right this time,” Chloe said.

  “Be my guest,” Ash replied.

  Like they’d done on the lower floors, they cleared each room they came to. Most were empty but they did find several people, all terrified. Ash’s team quickly restrained them before leaving them where they were.

  “Ash?” Chloe said over the radio.

  Ash clicked on his mic. “Go for Ash.”

  “Found the mother lode,” she said. “Some kind of nerve center. We’ve got twenty-three people here, lots of computers, communications gear, display screens.”

  “The director?”

  “No,” she said, disappointed. “Listen, if you can spare Bobby, we could really use him.”

  “Copy that,” Ash said. “Send someone over to get him and he’s all yours. We’ll check the rest of the floor while you guys see what you can figure out there.”

  “Copy,” she said.

  After Langenberg came for Bobby, Ash’s team finished the south side of the floor and started on the west. As had become the routine, Sealy opened the door and then he and Ramirez moved in, quickly assessing the room.

  “Whoa,” Ramirez said as Ash and the others came in. “This one’s different.”

  They had come across other offices that had all been functional and well equipped but nothing special. This office, however, was magnificent—hardwood floors; built-in bookcases and cabinets; a sitting area; a bar; a large, sleek desk; and a gorgeous view of the city.

  Director Johnson’s office, Ash thought. It had to be.

  “Check those,�
�� he said, pointing at the three other doors leading out of the room.

  Ramirez, Sealy, and Yates took one each.

  “Closet,” Yates reported.

  “I’ve got a bathroom here,” Sealy said.

  Ramirez had disappeared through his doorway.

  “Ramirez?” Ash called to him.

  “Captain, can you come in here?” Ramirez asked.

  Ash jogged over and found Ramirez standing in the living room of an apartment that was as high end and stylish as the office.

  He directed Ramirez to check the hall at the other end.

  When the man returned, he said, “Bedroom and bathroom.”

  “No sign of anyone?”

  “None.”

  “All right. Let’s keep going.”

  __________

  THE SAFE ROOM was smaller than the walk-in closet in Celeste’s apartment. It had been built for one of the members of the original directorate, and kept small because no one had really believed it would ever be used.

  The room was equipped with a chair, a tabletop that folded out from the wall, a small sink, and a mini-refrigerator. Unfortunately, the latter required the director to restock it, something Celeste had never done.

  Celeste’s hands were shaking so much that she had to try twice to enter the code into the storage-room computer that would slide open the false wall at the back.

  The second it opened, she rushed inside and slapped the CLOSE button by the sink. It wasn’t until the wall started to move back into place that she realized she’d left her bag on the floor by the maintenance desk. There was no way she could retrieve it and get back inside before the wall closed. And she certainly didn’t want to be caught on the other side because once the room was sealed, it couldn’t be opened again for two hours. And even then only from the inside.

  So all she could do as she watched the wall shut her in was tell herself that no one would notice the bag.

  __________

  BY THE TIME Ash and his team finished the floor, they had found thirty-six people. With those Chloe had discovered in the control center, the total came to fifty-nine. None matched the picture of Director Johnson they had found in the base computer.