Will had kept ahold of the ammo box, watching the stream of fire from the guy in civvies and saw the plane get hit. He’d even seen the burst of blood inside the cockpit that indicated the pilot had taken a good solid hit. As the plane fell he kept his eyes on it then realized the guy was gone. The ’60 was on the ground, smoking, and the guy was sprinting across the suddenly deserted road.
Mostly deserted. Lindsey, the idiot, was just standing there. Jason wasn’t in sight and hopefully Dafney had grabbed Allison and made it to cover.
But Lindsey was going to be right under where the damned plane was going to hit.
The guy in civvies, though, either didn’t realize that or didn’t care. He snatched Lindsey up without slowing down, the girl’s body cracking into a U as his arm hit her side, and vaulted the low iron railing around the lake with one foot on the top.
The two bodies hit the water just a moment before the plane hit the ground and the entire area was engulfed in flame. For the life of him, Will couldn’t figure out if his oldest daughter was alive or not.
“Oh, fuck…” he said, dropping to his knees. The flames were producing a towering pillar of what could only be poisonous smoke, but it was drifting to the west, away from the park. The only deadly spot was right where the guy, and his daughter, had disappeared.
Mike hit the water almost simultaneously with a wash of flame. He’d made sure the girl was down, his hand clamped over her nose and mouth, so the flame got his back not hers or her hair.
The girl was struggling in his arms but he ignored it, keeping his hand clamped over her mouth and nose as he swam through the murky water towards the boats he’d seen parked by some sort of big tree. The surface of the water was on fire and some of that fuel had to be mixed with either VX or precursors, neither of which were going to be destroyed by that temperature of fire. But, somewhere, there would be clear air. The VX wouldn’t have spread far, yet.
He got under the boats and found a pocket that looked clear. Popping up, he sniffed the air. Sure, VX didn’t have a smell, but smoke did. He might survive one whiff.
He didn’t die so he pulled the girl above the surface and let go of her mouth.
“I’m not trying to kidnap you or kill you,” Mike said, holding her up by both arms as she got a breath. “That plane back there has poison gas. Now I’m going to do another swim. You’ve got to hold your breath. And now, because the cloud could be coming this way.”
“Okay,” the girl said, wide-eyed.
“Take a deep breath,” Mike said, then clamped his hand over her nose and mouth again.
He swam out from under the boats, heading south. At least he thought it was south; it was away from the fire anyway.
He swam until he hit a concrete wall, bruising the knuckles of his hand, then followed it as it curved. When he’d gotten about as far from the crash as he was going to get he surfaced again and looked back.
The hill that Haunted Mansion perched on was seriously engulfed. But the smoke was mostly going straight up or to the west. That was good; most of it wasn’t headed for the park.
The problem was he couldn’t get out here. The edge of the concrete wall was a good six feet up.
There was, however, a landing just south of him. He started side-stroking that way, the girl still held with his right arm.
“Hey, buddy,” a voice called above him.
Mike looked up and vaguely recognized the guy who had played assistant gunner. He was even carrying the M-60.
“Daddy?” the girl said. “Daddy!”
“You wouldn’t happen to have a rope or anything useful would you?” Mike asked.
“No, but I was just going to say thanks for saving my kid,” the man replied. “They’re evacuating the park.”
“Good to hear it,” Mike said, reaching the landing. He pushed the girl up and she ran to her father who picked her up, big girl though she was. Mike followed her, getting up onto the landing then taking a knee as he just breathed. It had been a long damned day. And what was it with girls and swimming on this op?
“Seriously, man, thanks,” the guy said, taking a knee next to him.
“Seriously, you’re welcome,” Mike said, looking at the two of them. His jaw flexed when he really looked at the girl’s face. Blonde hair, blue eyes, even the cheekbones and, yeah, the lips were right. She looked one hell of a lot like Gretchen would have looked at the same age.
“Thank you,” the girl said. She’d looked over his shoulder and could see where she’d been standing. The area was covered in flames.
“You’re welcome as well,” Mike said, pulling the communicator pad off his belt. He shook it and was unsurprised to see that it was still functioning. That was why he’d paid an arm and a leg for the system. “Kildar here.”
“Kildar!” Greznya said. “Armenak saw you run into the fire! We thought you were dead!”
“Not yet,” Mike said, standing up and holding his hand out for the machine gun. “Tell Dragon I need pickup,” he continued, walking up the steps of the landing. “And put me through to Pierson. We’ve got some loose ends to clean up.”
He paused at the top of the stairs and watched as the man, with his daughter still piggyback, walked up.
“Lass, what’s your name?” Mike asked, shouldering the M-60.
“Lindsey,” the girl said.
“Lindsey, I need you to do me two favors,” Mike said. “You planning on getting married and having kids?”
“Yes,” she replied, blushing. “Someday.”
“Someday is good,” Mike said as the black Hind hovered above and then began to drop into the open space behind him. “I want you to do me two favors in that regard. The first is you pick a good husband. Pick somebody smart and strong, somebody who doesn’t beat you or shout at you and plans on being somebody. A guy who has it on the ball. Pick good genes, girl, that’s the first favor. The second favor you owe me for this, Lindsey, is you got to name your first daughter Gretchen.”
Cell phone connections had been overloaded, but Will had managed to get the whole family collected before they entered the tunnels. Will was amazed by the tunnels under the park; they were big. But even as large as they were, they were crowded.
Will had ahold of Lindsey’s hand while Dafney led Jason and Allison. The crowd, fortunately, was moving pretty smoothly and nobody was panicking. Just shuffling forward to some unknown destination.
“The exit is not far, folks,” a Disney security guard said, waving the group on. “Remain calm and keep walking. There will be busses waiting when you exit…”
“You okay?” Dafney asked.
“Fine,” Will said, rubbing Lindsey’s still-wet hair as they exited a side tunnel into a much larger area. It was still packed, though. Apparently, the whole park dumped into it. He looked back at her and grinned, then blanched. A guy who looked pretty damned Middle Eastern to Will’s eyes had just pulled out a can of OFF. Since there weren’t many mosquitoes in the tunnel, he probably wasn’t worried about bites. And he had a weird look in his eye. It was that, as much as anything, that had Will suddenly moving, pushing his youngest daughter aside and swinging…
He hadn’t gotten in a fight since he was in the Army but the roundhouse was muscle memory, even if diffused, and it connected perfectly. What he’d forgotten was how much hitting somebody’s chin with your fist hurt.
“Fuck,” he said, cradling his hand as the man crashed to the ground, the can of OFF rolling away unsprayed. “SECURITY!”