Breaking Danger (19 page)

The image cut out and Elle appeared. A big hand was around her shoulder, but Nick was off screen.

“Okay, Sophie,” Elle said. “Show time. Jon will take care of you. He's the best there is . . .” There was a murmur and she shot an annoyed glance to her right, then rolled her eyes. “
One
of the best there is, Nick assures me. Don't pay any attention to him, the plague has accentuated his testosterone.” She suddenly sobered and her eyes took on a glossy sheen. “Be careful out there, Soph. We need you. We need you not only because you're the best virologist I know but because we're starting to think of rebuilding and we need you for afterward as well.
I
need you. Be careful and . . . godspeed.”

“Thanks, Elle,” Sophie whispered and switched off the scanner herself. “Right,” she said briskly. “What's the game plan?”

Jon could have hugged her right there. There was absolutely nothing in her body language or gaze that betrayed fear, though she must be terrified. What was out there wasn't anything like the usual danger. Hell, Jon would have preferred any of the hairy situations the team had been in to this. Any other situation fit in their training. They'd come up against some of the worst bad men on the planet, but Jon understood bad men, how they thought, how they acted. He'd understood since childhood, and by way of the two years spent inside the drug cartel. He'd learned about every wrinkle of a scumbag's psychology. He knew them inside out. Knew how they thought, how they planned, how they acted.

This was without precedent in the history of the world, and though he'd been thoroughly trained in escape and evasion, what was outside the confines of Sophie Daniels's pretty little apartment was like some horror from the bowels of hell. Coming in, his skin had prickled with terror and horror, an active revulsion the likes of which he'd never felt.

Sophie would be feeling that tenfold. But there she was in front of him, ready to face whatever was thrown at her, and do the very best that she could.

She was a scientist not a warrior, but she had a valiant warrior's heart.

For the very first time in his life as a soldier, Jon was terrified of dying. On missions, if he died, his teammates could carry on. Here, if he died, he would be leaving Sophie without a means of escape from the dying city. He would be condemning her to a horrible death, or, even worse than death, if she was infected but not killed, he would be condemning her to becoming a monster.

He knew that terrified her more than death, but she wasn't betraying anything other than determination on that lovely face.

He allowed himself exactly one second to be swamped with admiration, then choked it off. If they were going to survive this escape, they would need every single ounce of determination and focus in them.

“Right,” he said briskly. “This is how it's going down.”

She nodded, eyes locked on his. She was listening to him so intently, she was nearly vibrating.

“The helo is on the roof of the Ghirardelli Building. Are you a runner?”

She thought her response over. “Not really. I exercise, sporadically. I'm not in bad shape, but not in supergood shape either. It's pointless lying.”

He nodded. Yes, it was pointless lying. He needed to know his resources and hers. He nodded to the case containing the vaccine. “Okay. Can you carry that case and run?”

She looked deeply in his eyes, opened her mouth, then closed it. “Sophie?”

She sighed. “Coming here it was hard for me to carry that thing. It's not only heavy, it's bulky. So I don't know how far I can run while lugging the case around. I wish it were otherwise, Jon, but it's not. I'm sorry.”

He shook his head sharply. He didn't need her apology. She'd already been heroic in getting that case and the promise it contained away from a building in flames with crazy infected running everywhere. He remembered those first few hours; it had been a madhouse. Instead of heading for safety right away, she'd gone back for the vaccine.

He worked solutions through his mind fast. There was basically only one way to do this. “Bring it to me.”

She nodded and headed for the case against the wall. She did her best but it was heavy for her. She was carrying it in her right hand and had to list left to balance the weight. She moved slowly. No way could she run with it.

Jon reached for a piece of material on a side pocket of his backpack. He knew exactly which side pocket. He was slightly OCD when it came to gear. Gear saved your life. He pulled the material out. Dynapack. Infinitely tough, infinitely stretchable, infinitely strong. He went down on one knee, bending his torso forward until his back was parallel to the ground. He handed her the stretch of Dynapack. “Put the case on my back, then wrap this around it. If you pull the corners, they will stretch into ribbons. Pull them forward and help me tie them around my chest.”

He knew how weird that sounded, but Sophie didn't hesitate. The material was top secret and a miracle. In a moment, Sophie had placed the case on his back and the Dynapack on top. Each corner stretched so easily it could have been chewing gum, except this chewing gum was hyper-resistant to just about everything except maybe a 50 cal bullet. The four corners stretched around his chest and she helped him tie it in a solid knot right over his sternum.

His scanner let out a high-toned beep.

The fifteen-minute mark.

They had to hurry.

He stood and jumped to see how tightly the case was secured. It didn't budge. Bless the U.S. military for having thought up Dynapack. The case weighed about forty pounds. In training they'd marched for fifty miles humping double that. No problem.

He went down on one knee again.

“Add my backpack to that.” She lifted the backpack over the case. His backpack straps were also made of Dynapack so she just lifted the straps over his shoulders. He shrugged, settling the backpack in place. He was at around sixty pounds. No problem. But he had to leave his body armor behind.

His scanner let out a high-toned beep.

The ten-minute mark.

“Okay. Pack a small backpack if you want, some personal items, girl stuff, whatever. We're heading straight for Haven and there's everything you could need there but—I have to tell you Sophie, you might never come back here again. So if there are some family mementos, whatever, you've got a minute to put it together. One. And dress warmly.”

“Right,” she said and disappeared into the bedroom. Exactly one minute later she came back out with a long lightweight Nomex coat over her clothes. Gloves and a watch cap. She had a smallish backpack with her.

He looked her over carefully. “Tuck your hair completely into the cap. You don't want someone to catch you by the hair.” She obeyed immediately, watching him for more instructions.

She looked as ready as she'd ever be.

They were at the door and he pulled his stunner. He also had his Glock 92, which would stop a rhino in full-attack mode.

“Is there a side entrance to the building?”

“Yes,” she answered. “The back stairwell exits onto an alleyway.”

“Okay. This is how it's going to work. If the road ahead is clear, you go first and I'll watch your six.”

“Six?”

“Your back.” She nodded. “If we're attacked, I'll take point and you stay behind me, just as close as you can. Is that clear?”

She nodded again.

“Say it.”

It was a principle for people who could find themselves in stressful situations. Pilots repeated verbally every single order. So did warriors going into battle.

“When there are no infected in sight, I am ahead of you. If there are infected, I stay close behind you.”

He nodded. “I rappelled down from the roof. I left two ropes, both with an automatic hoist system and handholds at the bottom. I don't think the infected have the kind of intelligence that can recognize a rope.”

“No, they don't,” she confirmed.

“That's what I thought. Because if we're being chased there's no question of going up the central steps and climbing up until we get to the roof of the Ghirardelli Building. We'd be chased and caught. They're fast. So we'll outwit them. The two ropes are on the west wall, close to the front left corner. Repeat that.”

“Two rappelling ropes, west wall, near front left corner. They have a hoist function.”

“If I don't make it—” She opened her mouth and he lay his forefinger across those soft lips. “If I don't make it,” he said firmly, “try to get the case off me then get to the ropes. If it's impossible to get the case, just head for the wall. You geeks are smart. The men up at Haven could try to capture an infected for you. And then you could—I don't know, isolate the virus, make the vaccine. You can do that, right?”

“In theory,” she said. “But it would take weeks.”

“But you could do it.”

She nodded.

Okay, if something happened to him, the state of California would just continue going to hell for an extra couple of weeks.

“So make it to the wall, grab the handle of one of the ropes and activate the hoist. That's the green button you'll find to the side. Press it and it will immediately start pulling you up. Get to the helo and activate the distress signal. That's a big red button smack above the pilot's seat on the starboard side. It sets off an alarm at Haven. As soon as Haven gets an active helo going, they'll come get you. It might take a day or two or maybe more, but you should be safe up on the roof. There's a first-aid kit if you are wounded. There's also water and energy bars. Just wait, Sophie, don't move. They'll come for you. Repeat that.”

She made her voice an even monotone. “If you die, I proceed to the Ghirardelli Building. If I manage to get the case off you, I carry it. If not, I abandon it. There are two ropes hanging from the building. I grab the handle of one, press the green button and rise to the roof. Press the distress button and wait.”

“Okay then. So—”

“Listen!” she said urgently.

“What?”

“The noise is almost gone.”

Damn. Unforgivable. He'd been so wrapped up in making Sophie realize she had to get her gorgeous ass to safety even if he was down, he hadn't kept up situational awareness. It was true. He checked the scanner. The huge swarm had passed. There were only stragglers, and behind the stragglers, nothing. He tapped the screen, zoomed out. Once the stragglers had passed, there was no thermal footprint of infected for a radius of well over 500 meters. It was their best shot.

He touched his comms. “Ryan, heading out with Dr. Daniels. See you at the homestead.”

It was Nick who answered. “Bring her home, Jon, or Elle will never speak to me again.”

“Roger that.”

He touched Sophie, looked deeply into her eyes. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she answered and he could tell she was.

“Let's go.”

Sophie had never seen anyone move the way Jon did. Cautious, careful, each move pondered. But
fast
. He ran in small precise steps designed to keep his gun level.

First he peeked out in the corridor when he opened her apartment door. He pulled his head back, said, “Don't look around, keep focused on moving forward,” and with a gentle push ushered her out the door.

It was clear what he meant. The hallway—her very nice hallway with the Italian wall sconces in her very nice building—was littered with corpses, the walls bloodstained.

She did as he said. She watched her feet, kept her focus ahead and moved as quickly and quietly as she could. They passed the elevator bay, but he'd told her elevators were traps, and anyway they didn't know if they were working or not. They headed for the staircase. Jon stopped her with a light touch to her arm. She froze.

He cracked the stairwell door open a fraction of an inch, pulled out a flexible tube from his wrist scanner, and bent it so he could look around the corner and down the stairwell without being seen.

Clear.

They made it down the stairs quietly, Jon managing to cover their backs as well.

They quietly exited the building into the alleyway and made their way along the wall toward Beach. Which was covered in bodies.

Right then, right there, Sophie resolved to survive the dash to the helicopter, to arrive in this Haven, manufacture as much vaccine as their lab could, and stop this thing. Save as many people as possible. She would not allow this abomination to continue.

Jon checked the flexible tube, checking all of Beach from the safety of the alleyway.

“All clear,” he said to her in a soft, low voice that was perfectly comprehensible but wouldn't carry more than a foot. He tapped something and said in that low, calm voice, “Moving out.” He listened for a second, then said, “Roger that.”

He checked the street again, checked the scanner. “Okay. Now's the time. We should be at the rappelling rope in about four minutes. Go.”

She went, as fast as she could. She didn't look back because Jon was there and she didn't look left or right because she trusted him to keep an eye out. To have keen situational awareness. Her job was to get herself as quickly as she could to the Ghirardelli Building, and she put everything she had into it.

Though it was late afternoon, it was dark. The many fires had cast a pall of smoke, drowning out the light of the sun. Still, there was enough light for her to see the shapes on the ground. She jumped over the bodies when she could, ran around them when she couldn't, trying as hard as possible to maintain a straight line for the Ghirardelli Building.

The air was thick with acrid smoke and something that she just knew was the smell of mass violence. Blood, burning bodies. Bodies that had voided at death. Somewhere behind them the swarm was moving away, but the noise they made was still audible. Fading inchoate screams and yells. The sound of thousands and thousands of pounding feet. The sound of madness.