CHAPTER 15 #2
"No," he says, his voice deadly quiet. "I don't."
He stands up slowly, his eyes scanning the trees. He unslings the rifle, clicking the safety off. "Someone was here," he says. "Recently. Within the last hour. The fresh snow barely covered it."
"Maybe a hiker?" I suggest, though hope feels foolish. "A hunter?"
Alaric moves to the tree trunk. He inspects the bark. He traces a mark on the wood. It’s faint, scratched into the moss. A symbol. An eye inside a triangle.
"Not a hunter," Alaric says. The color has drained from his face completely. He looks at me. "It’s a marker. Special Reconnaissance. They were scouting the perimeter."
"Who?"
"The Syndicate," he spits the word like a curse. "Vance's partners. They found us."
"But the sensors..."
"They bypassed them," Alaric realizes, looking back at the sensor box on the nearby tree. "They didn't trip them because they hacked the loop. The green light is a lie."
He grabs my arm. "We have to go. Now."
"Back to the house?"
"No!" he hisses. "If they scouted the perimeter, the assault team is already moving in. The house is a kill box. It’s made of glass, Elodie. We’re sitting ducks."
"Then where?"
"The helicopter," he says, pulling me back the way we came. "We have to get airborne. Before they set up the anti-air."
We run. We don't walk. We sprint through the snow.
The silence of the forest is no longer peaceful.
It is menacing. Every shadow looks like a gunman.
Every snapping twig sounds like a bolt action.
My breath tears at my throat. My boots slip on hidden ice.
Alaric drags me, his grip on my arm bruising.
He is ignoring his pain, ignoring the sepsis. He is in full combat mode.
We break through the tree line, back into the clearing. The Glass House stands there, beautiful and serene. The helicopter sits on the pad.
"Get to the chopper!" Alaric shouts, letting go of me to bring his rifle up. "Go! Start the turbine! I'll cover you!"
I run toward the machine. I am halfway across the clearing when I hear it. Not a gunshot. A high-pitched whine. Like a mosquito, but louder.
I look up. Hovering above the house. A drone. Black. Quad-rotor. With a camera lens that swivels toward me like a robotic eye.
"DROP!" Alaric screams.
I dive into the snow. BOOM.
The ground shakes. The drone didn't shoot me. It dropped a payload. On the helicopter.
I look up, spitting snow from my mouth. The helicopter is gone. In its place is a ball of orange fire and black smoke. The explosion rips the rotor blades off, sending them spinning through the air like giant scythes. One of them slices into the roof of the glass house, shattering a massive pane.
"No!" I scream.
Alaric is there, grabbing me by the back of my coat, hauling me up. "Move! Into the trees! Go!"
"The house!"
"Forget the house! It’s over!"
We scramble back into the tree line, away from the burning wreckage. Bullets start to fly. Zip. Zip. Crack. They are coming from the east ridge. Suppressive fire. They aren't trying to hit us yet. They are herding us.
Alaric shoves me behind a thick pine tree. He spins around, bringing his rifle up. Bang. Bang. Bang. He fires three shots toward the ridge. Controlled. Precise. "I count four!" he yells over the roar of the fire. "Maybe five! They’re flanking!"
He looks at me. His face is streaked with soot. His eyes are wild. "The car," he pants. "There's an emergency vehicle in the underground garage. But the entrance is on the other side of the clearing."
"We can't cross the clearing," I say, my voice shaking. "They’ll shoot us."
"We have to," Alaric says. "Or we freeze. Or they flank us and execute us."
He checks his magazine. He looks at me. "Do you still have the SIG?"
I nod, my hand clutching the pistol in my pocket.
"Take it out," he commands. "Take the safety off."
I pull the gun. My hands are shaking violently. This isn't a target. This isn't a stump.
"Elodie, look at me!" Alaric grabs my face. "This is it. This is the duet. I play the distraction. You play the escape."
"What?"
"I’m going to draw their fire," he says fast. "I’m going to move left. They will focus on me. When they do... you run for the garage keypad. You open the door. You get the car started."
"No! They'll kill you!"
"They won't kill me," he says, a dark, terrifying grin spreading on his face. "They need me alive for the codes. But they will kill you without blinking."
He kisses me. Hard. fast. "I am the monster, remember? Monsters don't die easy."
He breaks away. "On my mark! Three... two... ONE!"
He breaks cover. He runs to the left, firing his rifle from the hip. Bang! Bang! Bang! "COME AND GET ME, YOU BASTARDS!" he roars.
The gunfire from the ridge shifts instantly. The bullets chase him, kicking up plumes of snow around his boots.
I don't think. I don't breathe. I run. I run to the right, skirting the edge of the burning helicopter. The heat sears my face. The smoke chokes me. I see the garage panel on the side of the house foundation. Twenty yards. Ten yards.
I see a shadow move in the trees ahead of me. A man. In white camouflage. Holding a submachine gun. He steps out, blocking my path. He raises his weapon.
I don't stop. I don't think about the rhythm. I don't think about the breath. I raise the SIG. I point it at the white shape. Press.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
I fire three times. The man jerks. Red blooms on his white chest. He falls backward into the snow.
I don't look at his face. I reach the keypad. I punch in the code. The heavy blast doors groan and begin to open.
I look back. Alaric is pinned down behind a rock. He is reloading. "ALARIC!" I scream. "IT'S OPEN!"
He looks at me. He sees the open door. He sees the dead man in the snow. He nods. And then he runs toward me.
The bullets follow him. One of them hits him. I see his body jerk. I see a spray of red mist from his shoulder. He stumbles, but he doesn't fall. He throws himself through the closing gap of the garage door.
I hit the button. The door slams shut. The world goes dark. We are inside. We are alive.
But Alaric is on the floor. And the snow outside is stained with his blood. And mine. Because I just killed a man. And I didn't feel a thing.