“Down!” Jeff said as he pulled me to the right and a drone whizzed by. I lost my balance and went over the side. Fortunately Jeff had a hold of my hand and he was able to drag me back up.
“Where’s Richard?” I didn’t see White anywhere.
He’d been a couple servers away from us so we leaped toward where we’d seen him last. We couldn’t get onto the actual server because it had taken a direct hit from a big chunk of ceiling and was down.
Made it to the server nearest this one and looked over the edge. White was on top of the downed server, dodging drones.
Jeff got onto his stomach and reached his arm down. “Uncle Richard, jump!”
Decided I needed to help and the best help I could give was to get rid of the drones. Dug around in my purse and pulled out my new Glock, flipped off the safety, and took aim.
Mom had worked with me a lot on both rapid-fire and moving target techniques and I was a really good shot by now. Set my sights on the nearest drone and fired.
Hit it three times and it exploded. Happily the debris didn’t hit either Jeff or White.
Did the same with the next two, one of which took five shots to go boom, and one that took four. But three drones down wasn’t bad.
Until I looked around and realized two things. One was that there were a lot more than three drones flying around here.
The other was that they were all heading for me.
CHAPTER 91
THE WAY I SAW IT, I had two options. I could try to hit every one of these drones with the few shots left in the clip—and then Jeff, White, and I could be shot to death by the remainder—or I could run and lead the drones away from the others.
I had to jump back toward the drones, but I didn’t keep on going that way. I leaped to my left, then turned and headed for what I hoped was the far wall near where we’d first come into this area.
When you’re being shot at, running in a serpentine movement is your best bet, because it’s a lot harder to hit a target that’s moving erratically. This was great in theory and when you were on terra firma, but fifteen feet up and on slick metal requiring all my track and field training, it was a different story.
Jumping from server to server had been a hell of a lot easier when Jeff had been holding my hand. Hadn’t realized just how much he’d kept me from slipping until my third jump, which didn’t end up my final jump with my going splat at the end only because I was going fast enough that I was able to pretend I was hurdling and land on the next server in line.
However, that meant I’d gone in a straight line for two jumps, and the drone shots were whizzing far too close to me.
Had to dodge to my left to avoid a drone that was attempting a dive bomb, and while I made the jump, I landed in a skid on my left side. I wasn’t really hurt, but I also wasn’t steady, and I slid toward the edge.
I was mostly over the edge when someone grabbed my purse and spun me around. I was able to grab White’s arm and, because of how he was lying on the top of the server, we both actually stayed on it.
“This is reminiscent of Paris,” he said.
“I could have officially done without an Operation Confusion flashback. Where’s Jeff?”
“Leading the drones away. He’s the fastest and I guaranteed I wouldn’t let you fall.” White helped me to my feet. He kept a hold of my hand. “Shall we, Missus Martini?”
“Absolutely, Mister White.”
We took off after Jeff, who was in the distance, doing a great job of dodging, jumping, and moving fast. But there was a whole fleet of little drones after him.
Jeff neared the wall we were heading for and he stopped running in a serpentine fashion. Instead he jumped straight for two servers. The drones clustered behind him.
I was ready to start shooting but I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t hit Jeff. This wasn’t looking too good when he disappeared.
Managed not to scream, but only because White and I were in the air, jumping between servers when this happened. We landed and White dropped down onto the top of this server, pulling me with him just as all the drones slammed into the wall.
There was an impressive explosion. White waited until the initial debris had flown out, then he had us up and jumping over again. One server before the wall he stopped again. We looked over the edge. Jeff was standing there, looking worried and expectant.
“Right on time,” White said cheerfully, as he shoved me off the server.
Managed not to shriek or accidentally pull the trigger of my gun, but both took a lot of self-control. Jeff caught me like a pro, put me down, and waited to catch White, who jumped the moment I was out of Jeff’s arms.
“I’d have loved to have known about this whole plan,” I said as I dropped my now-inaugurated Glock back into my purse.
Jeff took one hand, White the other. “There wasn’t time,” Jeff said with a grin. “Just a reminder that I was the Head of Field for a reason, baby.”
“You’re the best there is at what you do, Jeff, I know. Now, let’s get out of here. I’m almost sure that the wall you just made fall down leads to the bathrooms and one of those bathrooms has a cube gate in it.”
Jeff shook his head. “Maybe so, but the damage is too high up and the rest of that wall is still intact. We’ll have to get there another way.”
“Fantastic. The next section’s a maze, too. But the room we entered the facility through also has a cube gate return there, so we could be good.”
We headed for the double doors, which, once we reached them, were both locked and standing strong. Fabulous.
“If the doors are locked, where are the people—and I use that term loosely—we’re chasing?” White asked.
Waited for an evil laugh or the sound of a cocking gun. There was none. Interesting. Spun around. No one was here. “They got through somehow. Or a server fell on them. But I doubt we were that lucky, so I assume they got out.”
“How?” Jeff asked. “Unless they walked out with a key, they didn’t have time to grab something before Naomi blew up where they were living.”
“They did, actually. They went back in for guns. Maybe they planned ahead.” Though it seemed more likely that they’d invoked Evacuation Omega more than grabbed a key. The drones had to have been part of the evacuation procedure. “The drones. Where did the drones come from?”
“No idea,” Jeff said. “Behind us is all I’ve got, and based on what I can see and hear, we don’t want to go back.”
“Time to break the door down, Jeffrey,” White said. “I’ll let you try first. I wouldn’t want to imply that I don’t believe you’re strong enough to do it alone.”
“You’re just too old to handle it,” Jeff said as he backed up to run at the door.
“You never used to be so disrespectful when I was the Supreme Pontifex.”
“You weren’t as mouthy as my wife when you were the Pontifex. I think she’s rubbing off on you.”
“I’m all kinds of proud. Jeff, do you really want to run at the door at full speed? If it doesn’t open you could get hurt.”
“If we don’t get out, we’re all dead. I’ll take the risk of shoulder dislocation.” Jeff bent over like a linebacker ready to take out the entire offensive line, and charged. Right as the doors opened.
Jeff slammed right into whoever had opened the doors. Showing we weren’t completely shocked, White grabbed my hand and we ran after them.
Proving that he’d have broken down the door with ease, Jeff and whoever slammed through at least six walls before they came to a stop in a heap.
“Well, that’s one way to get through this part of the maze,” I said as we caught up. “Jeff, are you okay?”
“Yeah, baby,” he said as he got up. “I had padding.”