Part 45 (2/2)

With effort, he pushed himself into a sitting position before rising painfully to his feet. He had to pause and grab the wall. He thought he was about to pa.s.s out again, but then the haze cleared and he was back.

He looked around.

I'm downstairs.

Right. That's where he'd been when they shot him again.

To his left was the way back into the fort. To his right, the open door to the antechamber that housed the fort's exit. Through the doorway, he could see something odd on the floor, something his mind was having a hard time processing. He walked over for a closer look.

Bodies. All wearing uniforms.

No, not all. Harris was there, too. Dead.

”Huh,” he said, feeling no emotion whatsoever.

”Ja.n.u.s?”

If Ja.n.u.s had been able to, he would have jumped in surprise. Instead, his head slowly turned to the voice.

Strapped to a chair directly behind the bodies was Senor Romero, looking even more frail than usual.

”Ja.n.u.s. Untie me. Now!”

Ja.n.u.s staggered into the room, and stopped beside Romero's chair.

”Come on!” Romero said. ”Quickly!”

He looked at the old man, and glanced at the straps holding Romero down. They looked like the same straps that had been on the electroshock machine upstairs. Thick and strong. A good choice.

”Hurry! Get me out of this chair!”

Ja.n.u.s walked over to the pile of weapons, awkwardly lowered himself to his knees, and hunted around.

”What are you doing?” Romero asked. ”Get over here!”

Ja.n.u.s found a knife and pulled it out.

”If that will make it faster, fine. Now cut me out.”

A knife was fine, but there was something that would do the job even better. Back on his feet, Ja.n.u.s raised the rifle he'd grabbed and shot Romero in the chest. No sense in letting the old man outlive him.

He stared at his work for second. His bullet had gone right through the letter A of the word WATCH that was on a piece of plastic attached to Romero's s.h.i.+rt. Why it was there, he had no idea, nor did he care.

For a moment, he lost focus, his mind drifting off. When he snapped back, he was looking toward the door to the outside.

Yes. That's it.

Using the rifle as a cane, he made his way outside.

There was one other person who needed to die before he did today.

__________.

THEY MADE IT to the airstrip five minutes before they saw the jet descending toward them.

”You broke the first rule, you know,” Quinn said to Nate as they waited.

”Never get caught,” Nate said with a nod.

Quinn put a hand against his forehead to shade his eyes as he tracked the plane's progress. ”I've never been caught.”

Nate's face scrunched up on one side. ”Is that true?”

”It's what I'm telling you.”

”So it's not true.”

”It might be.

”And it might not.”

They fell silent for a moment.

”Thanks for coming to get me,” Nate said. ”You know I'd do the same for you.”

”Whether you would or wouldn't have before, you have to now. You owe me.”

”Oh, good Lord,” Orlando said. ”Are you boys finished? The rest of us don't want to hear this.”

”I was just thanking him,” Nate said.

”And I was just accepting that thanks,” Quinn added.

She rolled her eyes.

Seconds later the plane swooped in, its tires emitting a rubbery screech as they touched down. Before the jet had even stopped moving, the group headed down the clearing beside the tarmac to meet it. They were about a hundred feet away when the door opened, and Liz hopped down the ladder.

”Nate!” she said, running toward him.

Nate paused for half a second. ”Liz?”

”I knew there was something I forgot to mention,” Quinn said, allowing himself a playful smile. ”And by the way, you and I need to have a talk about what you're allowed to tell my sister and what you're not.”

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