The River (30 page)

"Who
is
the Director?" Jake demanded softly.

"I don't know. I've never met him. My orders came from Paughter or VanBuren." Blackwell's voice dipped low. "Sometimes I think the Director…is a ghost."

Jake leveled his gun at him. "How do we know this isn't some kind of trick? Maybe you've got another weapon."

Blackwell lifted his chin. "Dr. Hawthorne knows what it's like to be a father. I'd have done anything to protect my daughter. But Amy doesn't need protecting anymore. And what she really needed was a father she could be proud of."

Tucking the rifle into her right arm, Del reached out, gripped his arm with her free hand.

"Your daughter would be proud of you…for this."

Blackwell's jaw flinched. "I don't know how this time travel stuff works, but if you ever meet up with my past self, do me a favor? Tell me―no,
make me
take my daughter in to see a doctor.
Before
she turns four. She might have had a chance if we had caught it earlier."

"You―your other self won't believe me," she murmured.

"Give him these, then.
Please!
"

Blackwell pressed a photograph and something cold into her hands.

An ankh key.

In a heartbeat, he was gone.

"Won't he tell someone?" Hawk asked.

Del stared at the photograph of Blackwell and a sweet young girl.

"No, he won't say anything," she said. "His daughter is dead. The Centre for Enlightened Living never saved her. Why would he save it?"

"We gotta go," TJ warned.

She had no idea how much time they had before someone sounded the alarm. But it probably wasn't much. She hoped to God that they were all safely through―
before
the rogue bots turned them into withered old corpses.

Their footsteps pounded down the tunnel as they raced for the portal. There was no point in trying to be quiet. The rock walls echoed every sound, even their breathless panting.

The slope dropped twenty steps down, and Del stumbled.

Thank God Jake was right beside her or she would have fallen down at least sixteen of them.

As they rounded the next corner, Hawk slowed to a halt in front of a row of lockers.

Del ran back, grabbed his arm. "What are you doing? Come on!"

"You go ahead. I'll wait here for Gary."

"I'm afraid Mr. Ingram won't be joining you…"

Twenty-four

H
e had an appointment…with a bullet."

Del froze.

A man stepped from the shadows, a gun in one hand.

Hans VanBuren.

His icy eyes sparked with anger, and his face was flushed, damp with perspiration.

Del's eyes drifted lower and she swallowed hard.

The front of VanBuren's blue dress shirt was stained with large splatters of something dark and wet.

Blood―Gary's blood.

Her heart plummeted.

The man grabbed her father and pressed the gun to his head.

"Hans, I should've known we'd see you again," her father said bitterly, dropping his gun to the floor. "I'm surprised you didn't just wait for us to self-destruct."

VanBuren's cold eyes narrowed in unbridled fury. "The rogues haven't been activated yet. There are a few things I want first. One of them is your daughter."

Del sucked in a sharp gasp. As the blood drained from her face, she clenched her fists. She understood what he wanted, and the thought made her sick. There was no way in hell she was going to let him touch her. Not without a fight.

Shivering, she remembered Francesca.

VanBuren smiled at her, his lustful gaze stripping her bare.

"We have unfinished business, Delila."

She swallowed the burning rise of bile that crept up the back of her throat. She felt dirty, contaminated, like the Nahanni River water she had ingested.

"That's what you remind me of," she seethed.

"What's that?"

"
Giardia Lamblia.
A goddamn parasite."

The man actually winced.

"How'd you get here ahead of us?" TJ demanded.

VanBuren indicated the lockers with a nudge of his head.

"Pull on them."

The entire section of lockers moved. It was hinged on the left side, and behind it was an elevator door.

"Goes right to the Director's office," VanBuren said. "Only Vance and I know about it. And the Director, of course."

Jake stepped forward, his gun raised. "Let Lawrence go."

"Nice try, Doctor Kerrigan. Hawthorne'll be dead before you even pull the trigger. Drop your weapons. All of you."

Without a second thought, Del let the rifle slide to the floor. It clattered at her feet, useless. There was a brief hesitation, then TJ and Hawk dropped their weapons.

"Jake!" she pleaded. "He'll kill my dad"

Jake gritted his teeth, tossing his gun toward the wall.

"You don't want to kill me, Hans," her father said calmly.

VanBuren's head twitched. "Why is that?"

"Because I have the serum."

"I have my own stash, thank you."

"But I have what the Director is after. A serum with no half-hour, painful side effects. One full dose and you never have to worry about it again. You'll live forever, at the age you are now."

VanBuren's mouth dropped. "You're lying!"

"I'll get it. It's in my pocket."

Her father moved cautiously and withdrew a capped syringe filled with a golden liquid. Then he pulled out two crimson syringes.

VanBuren eyed them suspiciously, reading the labels. "
Hypnos
and
Thanatos?
Which one is the serum?"

"Let the others go and I'll tell you."

Del could see the flicker of uncertainty in VanBuren's eyes, but she could also sense his hunger.

The gun in his hand wavered, then he lowered it, just a bit.

"Give me the serum, Hawthorne."

"Let them go first."

"What!" VanBuren said bitingly. "You don't think I'm serious?"

Without hesitation, he leveled his gun at Hawk, and before Del could move, the muzzle flashed and a shot rang out in the closed space of the tunnel.

"No!"
she screamed.

A small bullet hole pierced Hawk's forehead. He slumped to the ground…lifeless.

In sickened disbelief, she tried to run to him but Jake held her back. She struggled, oblivious to the flood of tears that streamed down her face.

Jake pulled her close. "Stay still!"

"Which one is the serum?" VanBuren snarled.

"Let them go and I'll give you the file too," her father said, his voice shaky. "It'll make you a very rich, very powerful man, Hans."

There was a long, tense moment of silence.

Finally VanBuren shrugged. "Fine. They can go."

Jake was the first to move. He carefully reached for his gun.

"Leave it!" VanBuren ordered, rolling up his sleeve. "Just go!"

Del choked back a sob.

She couldn't leave, not without her father.

VanBuren held out his hand. "The serum, please."

Mutely, her father passed him the
Hypnos
serum.

"You must think I'm a moron. I knew you'd try to trick me."

Before anyone could say a word, VanBuren snatched the
Thanatos
syringe, ripped off the cap and plunged the tip of the needle into his arm. Then he emptied the syringe and tossed it on the floor.

Seconds later, he smiled. "You were right, doctor. There's no torturing pain. I feel…great. You couldn't fool me. I knew that
Hypnos
meant
hypnotize
or something like that."

"Sleep," Del whispered.

But Thanatos means death.

"Now I'll live for―"

VanBuren gagged, then doubled over. A long, piercing scream issued from his mouth. He threw aside his gun as if it were burning him, then he slumped to the floor, writhing in agony.

"You bastard! You said no side effects!"

He rocked on his knees, head bent, clutching his stomach.

Her father shook his head. "There aren't any. Not in the real serum. Unfortunately, I don't have any on me at the moment. Oh, and you're right. I
do
think you're a moron, Hans. I knew you'd think I offered you the wrong one."

VanBuren raised his head. Blood oozed from every orifice of his body. Thick and crimson, it poured from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. It dripped down his face, into his white hair, his white clothes…staining the crotch of his pants.

The stain of death.

VanBuren wiped a trembling hand across his drooping mouth and when he saw the gory trail it left, he whimpered.

"What have you done to me?"

Before their eyes, Hans went from thirty to sixty, to a hundred. He didn't just grow old, he grew
ancient
. His skin shriveled and blistered, with oozing cancerous sores that spread across his face. His eyes turned opaque and sunk deep into wrinkled, loose folds of flesh. Within seconds, he resembled a fossilized mummy. Twitching, he crashed to the floor and stared blindly at the ceiling as his body consumed itself.

"
Thanatos
?"

Del saw her father purse his lips.

"It means death, Hans. Instant death. Too bad you weren't versed on mythology, or you would have known which serum to choose. Your body has been infected with hundreds of self-destruct nanobots―not just one. And they're all activated."

An agonizing spasm gripped VanBuren's body.

"But I…want to live…forever."

Del stared down at him. "Longevity is overrated."

VanBuren shuddered and his head lolled.

Dead.

"Poetic justice," Jake mumbled.

She was about to comment when the elevator groaned.

"Someone's coming!"

Jake grabbed his gun from the floor. "It's either Paughter or the Director."

"Whoever it is," her father said. "We have to kill him. Gary said it'll take forty-two minutes for all of us to cross."

"It's less now," Jake murmured. "Maybe thirty minutes…without Gary and Hawk."

"We could be dead before then," Del said.

Her father's eyes swept over her. "If it's Paughter, he has the self-destruct code for the rogue bots. A push of a button on his watch and…"

TJ grabbed his gun from the ground, then motioned the others to do the same. "We gotta spread out. There's no place to hide, but at least we can make it harder for him."

He edged back until he was pressed up against the tunnel wall, next to Hawk's body. Then he raised the gun and pointed it toward the lockers.

Spurred into motion, Del hoisted the rifle to her shoulder. But it was too damned heavy. If she didn't find a way to support it, the weapon would be useless.

She flicked a look at the lockers.

When Paughter steps out, he'll be looking straight ahead. Not up.

"Jake!"

He moved toward her, one brow arched. "What?"

"Help me up!"

He drew back, hesitating. "Del, I don't think―"

"We don't have all day, Kerrigan."

Tucking his gun into his waistband, Jake quickly hoisted her up.

Behind the lockers, the elevator shuddered and slowed.

"Let one of us take him out," Jake said, giving her the rifle. "We'll lead him away from the lockers, from you. I don't want you getting shot."

Her eyes softened, watching him move away.
Jake…

The panel of lockers started to swing out from the wall and she gripped the edge tightly, praying that she wouldn't fall off.

Could she actually pull the trigger?

The rifle's barrel was cool against her cheek. Peering through its scope, memories assaulted her. Memories of computer games, playing Unreal with her father, killing off his computer character…

But this isn't a game. This is life…or death.

She shivered.

Killing a human being was something she never dreamed she'd consider. But hell, she had never been held prisoner before―with rape or death hanging over her head.

"Hi everyone!" Paughter called out cheerfully. "Don't shoot us!"

Us?

Del lifted her head slightly.

The kid she had known as Peter took two steps into the room.

She cringed, recalling the hours of tutoring she had spent with him, unaware that he was a murdering bastard.

A murdering bastard with a hostage.

Del recognized Kate O'Leary immediately.

The redhead cowered in the doorway to the elevator, her arms tied tightly behind her back and her mouth gagged with a strip of duct tape. Tears streamed from her wild, terrified eyes.

Del's heart raced.

Kate had good reason to be terrified.

Strapped to the girl's bulging, pregnant waist was a black belt.

Made of licorice-twist explosives.

Oh God!
He's going to blow her up. And the baby!

Paughter dragged Kate into the middle of the tunnel.

"My, my," he said in an amused voice. "What have we here? I see you've taken care of one of my problems."

Del couldn't see his face, but she was sure that his eyes were trained on VanBuren's bloodied body.

She checked the scope.

Perfect.
He was in her line of fire.

She flicked on the infrared beam, squinted through the scope and aimed it at the back of Paughter's head.

She bit her lip.

Peter's head.

"I recommend you lower your guns," Paughter said. "I have something on me you'll want to see."

He strode to the center of the tunnel, jerking Kate after him.

"Kate's fashionable belt might not look like much, but there's enough explosive in it to obliterate everything within a two hundred foot radius."

He opened his hand, revealing a detonator switch.

Del muffled a gasp.

If the bomb went off in the tunnel they would all be killed. Every last one of them. And she wasn't ready to die.

Not this year!

Suddenly, Paughter froze. "Where's your daughter?"

Her father shrugged. "She went on…
ahead
."