Part 31 (1/2)
She gave out a low groan of pain. Then her eyes blinked and she came awake, staring at him with horror. Kicking her legs spasmodically, she tried to slide herself away along the stone.
”Hey,” he said in a soothing voice. ”I'm not here to hurt you.”
Her kicks subsided. She sized him up with piercing appraisal. ”You're not one of them.”
Skarda shook his head and laughed. ”You got that right. I'm Park Skarda. One of the Good Guys around here.”
He helped her to her feet. She became suddenly aware of the klaxon. ”What's going on?”
”I don't know, but it's probably not good. Who are you?”
Sudden suspicion clouded her face. ”You tell me first. What are you doing here?”
”I'm with OSR.” He pulled out his I.D. and let her see it. ”My partner and I came to rescue our friend.” He grinned. ”Plus stop these people from destroying the world.”
Her expression softened. She stuck out her hand. ”Then you really are one of the Good Guys. I'm Rachel DiMarco. I'm with DRO-”
She broke off as Skarda's expression hardened.
He lifted his rifle. ”That's Tomilin's agency.”
She held up both palms. ”I used to work for Tomilin. Until he sold out his country. He kidnapped me and brought me here. I was trying to escape when this giant man stopped me and-”
She broke off, shuddering.
Skarda's intense gaze narrowed, but he lowered his weapon ”Did they have you locked up?”
For several seconds she stared at him with dead eyes. Then tears welled up and rolled down her face. Another shudder wracked her body.
Placing his hands on her shoulders, Skarda bent and looked her hard in the face. Something bad had happened to her, but he needed her to regain her focus.
They were running out of time.
”Listen to me,” he said. His voice was a whiplash. ”You're going to have to concentrate. Did they have you locked up?”
Her spine stiffened. He could see her visibly steeling her emotions. ”Yes.”
”Take me there. No doubt they have our friend in the same area.”
Nodding, she said, ”Okay. It's on the next floor up, on a side corridor.”
”Can you fire a weapon?”
She showed him a confident smile. ”I was an Army brat.”
Matching her smile, he handed her the Sig Sauer. ”Okay. Let's go.”
SIXTY-TWO.
JAZ was sprinting for the doorway to the command center when the ceiling of the Great Hall exploded, sending great chunks of gilded stone cras.h.i.+ng onto the main floor in billowing fountains of smoke. From the perimeter of a jagged hole huge cracks radiated in all directions. With a thundering crack another section of the roof broke loose, sending slabs of limestone plummeting to the floor with earth-shaking force. Men's screams were cut off abruptly as they were crushed under tons of rock.
Green lines lanced through the gloom and dust billows of the hall: tracer laser sights sweeping over the room, finding their targets. Through the hole in the roof men in black body armor rappelled down from the smoking hole in the roof, their MK17 SCAR-H a.s.sault rifles on full auto, sweeping deadly arcs of bullets at the Atlanteans.
Men fell among the ruined columns, their bodies torn apart. Others dove for whatever protection they could find.
The invaders. .h.i.t the floor, spreading out, firing in a storm of muzzle flashes. Jaz glanced up, seeing more of the attacking commandos plummeting toward the roof under the canopies of black parachutes. Another section of the vaulted ceiling exploded and crashed.
A thin green light found her chest and three rounds slammed against her armored breastplate, knocking her backwards. She staggered. Another shot hit her, slicing through the unprotected spot just below her left armpit in a sear of hot metal. The slug tore away of chunk of flesh, exiting the wound and ricocheting off a marble column in a spray of blood.
Her back slammed against the floor. Pain exploded in her brain.
For a few seconds she lay there, immobile. Then flipping over, she crawled toward the safety of the door, trailing a bright smear of crimson behind her.
___.
Koyasan rushed back into the command center, issuing commands, his sonorous voice rising over the din of gunfire in the background. ”This room must be protected at all costs. Mr. Tomilin, I need those codes now-”
He broke off, staring.
Tomilin stood at the outer edge of the computer console, training a rifle on the Atlanteans. The guards still clung to their weapons, but the barrels pointed at the floor.
Koyasan's eyes narrowed to baleful slits as understanding hit him. ”So you're a traitor,” he said calmly.
Tomilin's lips moved in a slow, arrogant smile. ”Seems like everybody's calling me that.”
”You were after the oil all along.”
Tomilin's smile spread. ”And the gold, too. As long as I'm here. After all, I'm a practical man. There's no sense in drowning the world when I can melt the Arctic Ocean and be richer than I can ever possibly dream of.”
”The Russian people will own those oil fields. Not the Americans.”
The Senator shrugged with indifference. ”Fine with me. Let them do all the hard work. I'll make a fortune speculating in the international oil markets. Now that I know what's going to happen.”
The command center crew were frozen at their stations, gaping at the two men. Fear and uncertainty clenched their faces as the sounds of gunfire and grenade explosions grew in volume outside the room, coming closer.
”Your men?” Koyasan asked.
Tomilin didn't bother to answer. Gesturing with his rifle at the technicians, he said, ”Now, instruct these men to do as I say. They will enter the codes for the satellite above the Arctic and they will fire the laser of that satellite only.”
With grim finality, Koyasan shook his head. His eyes blazed as he jerked his head at the guards. ”Shoot him.”
Staring at Tomilin's rifle aimed at them, they hesitated.
”Shoot me and you won't get the codes,” Tomilin said. His voice was laced with arrogance.