Alison frowned. “Apparently you’re not familiar with how grant funding works.”
“You’ve got me there.” he said. “Are there any other ways out of here other than the service hallway and the main entrance?”
“Yes,” answered Dubois. “There is a maintenance corridor back there.” He pointed to a dark corner near the end of the tank. “It’s not used often, but it will get us outside.”
“Good,” said Clay. “What I want you to do-” he suddenly stopped. Alison started to say something but he cut her off with a raised hand. He listened carefully.
Caesare was also listening. They both looked up and then back to the dark hallway. “We’ve got company.”
Just then a bullet zipped past Clay and hit Dubois in the chest, ripping a hole through him. He was dead by the time he hit the ground.
“Get down!” shouted Clay. He instantly jumped on top of Alison and reached out to pull Chris down with them.
Caesare was also moving. He zipped around, grabbed Palin, and used the momentum to throw him into Lee Kenwood, knocking them both over like bowling pins. He opened fire immediately, showering the hallway with bullets. Caesare’s return fire bought them a few seconds of delay as they all hit the ground and scurried behind a row of large, heavy desks.
Clay quickly crawled forward, grabbing and pushing Palin, Alison, Chris, and Lee ahead of him. He motioned for them all to lie down on the ground and become as small a target as possible. While Caesare shot back, Clay grabbed a long table behind him and tipped it over. He pushed it forward against the back of the desks to add a second layer of protection. The monitor on the desk above them suddenly exploded, and three slugs could be heard hitting the thick metal on the other side of the desk. Clay had the others scoot forward and stay behind the upturned table. He then took a defensive position and fired back.
A loud grunt could be heard from the hallway, and one of the silhouettes fell to the floor. Clay and Caesare both came back down behind the desks and replaced their magazines without looking. More shots came from the hallway. Caesare looked at Clay. “You hear that?”
Clay nodded. “They’re coming closer.” Two bullets skipped off the top of the desk and over Clay’s head, impacting the giant tank behind them. The bullets were stopped dead in the glass. Clay looked up at the tank and then over to Alison. “How thick is that glass?”
Alison was cringing at the sound of the gunfire. She tried to think. “Six inches…it’s six inches.”
“Good.” Clay said. He looked around at what he could see of the room. Caesare unloaded another magazine and reached for a replacement. “Where is that corridor?” Clay asked her.
She took one of her hands away from her ears and pointed to the corner of the room behind her. Clay followed her pointing hand and could see the subtle lines of a small door close to where the tank met the building. It was almost a clear shot to the door along the back side of the desks, but there was about ten feet of open space between the last table and the door. When he heard a short lull from the other side, he quickly rose and fired three rounds into the hallway. He looked at Caesare, pointed down the line of furniture and then pointed to the wall where the small door was.
Caesare squinted toward the door and then nodded his head. He grabbed another magazine and looked up at the ceiling. He turned to Clay, covered his eyes for a moment, and then made some kind of flashing sign with his hands. Clay looked up and then nodded back. Four more rounds hit the top of the desk and lodged themselves into the tank’s glass next to the others. He reached over and grabbed Alison pulling her close.
He whispered loudly in her ear. “We have to get you three out of here!” Behind him, Caesare unloaded another magazine. “We’re going to take out the lights. That should give you time to make it to the door. When you get outside, look before you run. If it’s clear, you run like hell. Find some place safe. Don’t worry about us.”
Alison nodded and looked back to Chris and Lee. She turned around and whispered to them. Clay watched them. None seemed frozen or in panic which meant they were at least thinking, scared to death but thinking. That was a hell of a lot better than freezing like a deer in headlights.
Clay turned back and got Caesare’s attention who nodded and reached into his bag to withdraw a giant light. He grabbed the cord and plugged it into the nearest power strip. Caesare nodded again. With that Clay quickly turned back and mouthed the words to Alison. “Get ready.” She nodded back and put her hands on the floor, ready to move.
Clay and Caesare changed their locations behind the desks. Then simultaneously they both rose up over the top, Caesare firing at their attackers, while Clay aimed carefully at the ceiling, destroying all four of the overhead lights and plunging the giant room into darkness. “Go!” he whispered loudly. He heard the sound of them quickly crawling away.
The firing stopped briefly and on the floor Caesare grabbed the top of his light and placed it atop the desk. Neither of them moved. Instead, they counted. They knew that it normally took five to ten seconds for an expert to transition to a pair of night vision goggles. It was a normal part of tactical training which allowed a soldier to continue even in pitch black. By magnifying what little light there was by 50,000 times, night vision goggles provided more than enough vision to continue the fight. The drawback of course was that it magnified all light by 50,000 times.
Caesare got to seven and flipped the switch on the two million power candle mega-lamp. It instantly flooded the entire room like a search light, blinding the five men who had expected Clay and Caesare to be donning their own goggles. Instead the intense magnification of the search light rendered them unable to see anything at all. At that moment, Alison and the others ran into the open toward the door. Clay and Caesare came up over the desks and opened fire dropping all five of them.
They both sat down quickly and reloaded. They could hear the small door click shut in the distance.
“Any more?” Clay asked.
“Don’t know.” Caesare said. Turning and scanning again. Then just as he swung to the right, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. A muzzle flashed from the second hallway leading to the main entrance. With less cover from that direction, the bullet ripped through a stack of binders and hit Caesare in the right shoulder. He yelled and fell backward, emptying the rest of this magazine in the new direction. More flashes were seen as several more silhouettes spread and took up positions. Clay came over the top of Caesare and fired everything he had. He quickly pulled the end of the last desk down in front of them, but it was too late. Even as several more bullets hit the other side of the desk, Caesare rolled onto his side grabbing his shoulder.
“How bad?” cried Clay over the gunfire and papers flying all around them.
“I can make it.” Caesare said gritting his teeth.
Suddenly Palin spoke from behind them. “John?”
Thunk thunk thunk. More bullets hit the front of the desk. Clay looked a Palin to find him staring back with a calm expression. Clay waited for him to say something else but then lowered his gaze to see the bright red circle spreading across Palin’s chest. It was a direct hit.
“John.” he said again starting to fade off. His eyes started to close and his head tilted back.
“Palin!” Clay yelled. He grabbed Palin and tried to shake him awake. “Palin stay with me!”
Suddenly a brilliant blue flash of light filled the room from behind them, adding to the bright search light. Clay looked up to see the air split in half and open into a large hole in the shape of an oval. He looked at Palin who was unconscious. A glow was coming from his coat pocket. It was the cube.