Part 26 (1/2)

”Well otherwise it's just a huge d.a.m.n coincidence, Carter, and I don't believe in those.”

The running feet and panicked screams were getting closer now, the ominous sound of a mob in flight. Sometimes, Sam thought grimly, there was nothing more dangerous than people.

”Sir, we have to get out of here.”

”I know! Daniel, Teal'c -”

The canvas flew back and Teal'c was already there, staff weapon in hand. Daniel stood behind him, talking urgently to Hunter, whose wife was kneeling on the floor, pulling up several old planks to reveal a shallow hole in the dirt. To hide the child, Sam realized, with a jolt.

”Mob,” the colonel said. ”We need to go.”

”Hunter says it's safer to stay,” Daniel said. ”The Amam like to hunt so if you stay quiet they'll usually pa.s.s by in search of, uh, livelier prey.”

”Not this time,” the colonel said. ”I'm the one they want.”

”Sir, you don't know -”

”Teal'c,” he said, barreling right over her objection, ”you're with me. Carter, Daniel - stay with Hunter. We'll get back to you when we can. Maintain radio silence.”

And with that they were gone, disappearing into the dark just ahead of the vanguard as the panicking horde spilled like floodwater through the myriad alleyways of the camp.

Sam backed up into Hunter's fragile shelter. Crouching at the entrance, her weapon trained, she watched people stagger past, desperate and frightened. Behind her, she could hear the child whimpering and Daniel's quiet, rea.s.suring voice talking to Hunter.

But outside people were screaming and her chest tightened in pain; she knew how they were dying and it horrified her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.

Colorado Springs was burning.

The attack had begun before he left the base, dull booms echoing down into the mountain, rattling lights and turning frightened faces up to the ceiling.

Topside, things were worse. Death Gliders, flying in pairs, dropped out of the clouds and flew in long strafing runs across the city. From the direction of the Air Force Academy, Makepeace could see plumes of black smoke, but there were fighters in the air too - F-16s, scrambled from Peterson, roaring overhead to engage the enemy.

It was like something out of a movie and, despite everything he'd seen off-world, Makepeace couldn't quite make himself believe that this - here - was real. No more than he could accept that his own actions had brought the catastrophe down on their heads. It was simply too enormous to be true, his mind rebelled against the reality of it.

But there was one thing he did understand, one simple human thing, and it was the flash of disbelieving shock he'd seen in Hammond's eyes in the moment he'd understood the truth. His grievous disappointment, his hurt, cut deep and Makepeace knew that, somehow, he had to try and make amends. So he blocked out the sight of his home in flames, ignored his guilt - so enormous it could swamp him - and just kept on driving.

The road down the mountain was empty, but he could see that I-25 was jammed as the whole city tried to flee before this unknown terror. He tried not to imagine those people, the frightened men, women and children dying at the hands of the Goa'uld, but it was impossible to ignore as another wing of gliders screamed overhead. In the far distance, a fighter fell from the sky, impacting in a ball of flames somewhere in the city. He couldn't tell if it was one of the enemies or one of their own. To the people below, it wouldn't matter; they'd be dead either way.

The city was lost from view for a moment as the road curved around and down, and then it spread out again before him as he rounded another corner. He could see the overpa.s.s now, where he had arranged to meet Maybourne. He just hoped he'd made it; if the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had died without giving up the gate address for his Alpha Site then everything was lost.

As he got closer to the highway, he started to hear the frantic blare of car horns, the wail of emergency vehicles stuck in traffic, and the screams of panic and anger as the road clogged up. There were people running along the highway, cars abandoned. It was chaos.

He pulled off NORAD Road before he reached the overpa.s.s, not wanting to get trapped in the traffic jam. He reached into the back seat, slung his MP5 over his head, and started running. Above, he felt rather than heard the gliders approach and dropped to the ground before the compression wave knocked him down, hands over his head as staff-cannon blasts peppered the scrubby ground around him and the road behind. He was back on his feet and sprinting as soon as they were gone, and didn't spare a look for the people behind him even though he could hear their cries for help. There was nothing he could do for them but this.

”Hey!” Someone grabbed his arm, dragging him to a halt - a middle aged woman with blood on her cheek. Her car was jammed in on the highway and Makepeace could see a man crouching next to it, holding two small children, their faces pressed into his shoulders, dazed with horror and disbelief. He felt sick. ”What's happening?” the woman said, staring at his uniform like it meant salvation. ”What is this?”

Makepeace shook off her hand, catching his breath, and backed up a step. ”Alien incursion,” he said. ”Get off the road.”

”What?” She stared up at the sky. ”That can't be true...”

”Get off the road, ma'am. Take your family and head into the mountains.”

Owlish, gla.s.ses knocked askew, she looked like she was an accountant or a lawyer, maybe. ”The mountains,” she repeated, as if Makepeace had suggested she go to the moon.

”Get as far from the city as you can.”

And with that, he started running again, dodging between the cars stopped on the onramp, over more dry gra.s.s and under the overpa.s.s. ”Maybourne!” he yelled, his voice echoing against the concrete. ”You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, where are you?” As his eyes got used to the comparative gloom, he saw a dark sedan pulled off the road further under the bridge. ”Maybourne?”

A figure rose from where he'd been hiding behind the car. ”What?” Maybourne said. ”No military escort?”

”I'm it,” he said roughly. ”Let's go.”

”Wait a second.”

As he moved, Makepeace recognized a gunmetal glint in Maybourne's hand. ”You have got to be kidding me,” he said.

”I need a.s.surance I won't be prosecuted.”

Makepeace stared at him. ”Prosecuted? Have you seen what's happening out there?”

”I won't just hand myself in,” he said, moving out from behind the car with his pistol leveled. ”I want a.s.surances.”

”Fine. If you stay here, you'll die,” Makepeace growled. ”How's that for an a.s.surance?”

”You can't -”

The scream of an F-16, followed by the wail of a Death Glider in pursuit, cut him off. Weapons fire impacted on the road overhead, gliders strafing the length of the highway, sending chunks of concrete cras.h.i.+ng down around them, filling their lungs with dust. Above, a crack ran across the bridge, widening as it snaked through the concrete. Makepeace could see daylight expanding through it. ”Move!” he yelled, grabbing Maybourne's arm and hauling him toward the light as the overpa.s.s began to collapse.

Cars, people, everything fell and Makepeace kept running, kept his fingers locked around Maybourne's arm, as dust and debris bloomed out around them.

Coughing, streaked with dirt and gasping for air, they eventually made it back to his SUV. Maybourne was wheezing so badly he was retching, bent double, so he didn't see the shadow fall. But Makepeace saw it and his stomach sank into his boots.

”Oh G.o.d,” he breathed as a huge, dark shape descended. He grabbed Maybourne's s.h.i.+rt, hauling him upright, making him watch. ”Look,” he hissed, as the ha'tak landed on Cheyenne Mountain, sending an avalanche of boulders and rock cascading down its sides. ”This is on us, Maybourne. We did this.”

Coughing, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, Maybourne shook his head and spat concrete dust out onto the ground. He fixed Makepeace with a hard look. ”It's not over yet, Colonel.”

There were three Amam, Teal'c saw, and their business here was pleasure.

He had seen Jaffa stalk with the same hungry intent through the slave camps of Apophis, although the appet.i.te they had sought to slake had been of a different nature.

They walked in silence, these Amam, one taking the lead and his seconds - Teal'c had no doubt of the power structure - a step behind at either shoulder. Their white hair gleamed like bone in the darkness, their pallid skin almost luminous, long coats flaring out behind them.

At his side, O'Neill stirred uneasily; he was afraid that these creatures could sense his presence.

”They hunt for sport,” Teal'c a.s.sured him.