As she vanished back into the Omega, Standish shook his head. “You’re a liar. A damn good one maybe, but still a liar. A couple of ounces of Red Mercury wouldn’t just kill us. It would kill everyone above us as well. And I know for a fact you could never do that.”
He was right, of course. There was no way in hell I’d ever kill innocent people. But if they didn’t believe my threat, then I was as good as dead. “Why not? If I don’t do it, your boss will.”
“He’s lying,” Chase said. “Just like I told you he would.”
“No, I’m not.”
Standish sneered. “I’d believe Jack over you any day of the week.”
I glanced at Chase. “You told me before you didn’t want to kill me. Is that still true?”
“Of course.”
Liar.
“Then, look at it this way. You want the Bell. You want it so badly that you’ve spent the better part of your life searching for it. I’m not looking to be a hero. I just want Diane back and safe passage out of these tunnels. If you agree to those terms, you’ll have your Bell in a matter of minutes.”
Chase hesitated. Then he lowered his gun.
Standish shot him an angry look. “Are you really listening to this crap?”
Chase snapped his fingers. Instantly, the guard pushed Diane forward.
He shoved her to her knees. Repositioning himself, he pointed his gun at her head. “Put the detonator down. And do it slowly. Then I need my little traitor friend to exit the Omega.”
I did my best not to look at Diane. But I couldn’t completely avoid those pained blue eyes.
I’d expected the situation, prepared for it even. But as I stared deep into her eyes, surging anger threatened to overwhelm me.
I breathed deeply. After a moment, the surge dulled. My mind crystallized. Backing down wasn’t an option. Although it would buy Diane a few seconds, I’d lose all my leverage. We were in a standoff and if I blinked, my entire side would die.
“Go ahead and shoot her,” I said. “But if you do, I press the button.”
“You have five seconds. Five…”
My face twisted defiantly.
“Four.”
“Three.”
An unwelcome thought crossed my mind. We were locked in a lethal standoff and as far as Chase was concerned, the explosives were like a gun with a single bullet. The moment I used them, the standoff ended and everyone lost. Knowing that, he might decide to murder Diane, assuming I still wouldn’t detonate the Bell.
“Two…”
Panic gripped my chest. What if he shot her?
“One…”
I steeled myself and glared into his eyes.
“Zero.”
Chase didn’t move a muscle.
Neither did I.
With an annoyed grunt, he pushed Diane onto the floor.
Relief swept over me. “Are we done with this nonsense? I’d like to get on with our deal.”
“What do you propose?”
“You leave Diane with me. Then you wait outside for five minutes. After that, this room and everything in it is yours.”
“How do I know you won’t use the time to set a trap for me?”
“We have nothing to gain from fighting. That’s a battle we won’t win. I just want to take my friends and leave.”
Standish gave me an amazed look. “You’re just going to walk right by us?”
“Of course not. There’s a maze of maintenance tunnels connected to this station. We’ll leave through one of them.”
“How do I know you won’t detonate the explosives once you’re gone?” Chase asked.
“And blow ourselves up too? I’m a little crazy but I’m not suicidal. I just want out of here. And I want to take my friends with me.”
Chase stared at me. Then, he nodded. “You’ve got five minutes. After that, we’re coming in with guns drawn, explosives or not.”
“Fair enough.”
Chase glanced down at Diane. Before I could react, he reared back and kicked her in the head. Her face distorted to one side and blood splattered onto my clothes.
I started for him but he lifted the gun again. “You’ve got five minutes,” he said. “Use them wisely.”
Seething with anger, I watched him back away and leave the tube. Moments later, the door slid to a close.
Leaning down, I checked Diane.
Her eyes fluttered and looked up at me. “I should’ve known you had something to do with this.”
“I didn’t mean —”
“Look, I don’t know what this is all about,” she whispered in a pained tone. “But that man’s insane. He’ll never let us escape.”
“I know.”
“Then, what’s your plan?”
“Let me put it like this. The easy part is over. The hard part comes next.”
Chapter 60
As I helped Diane out of the tube, I felt fireworks shooting off inside me. She was in even worse shape than I thought. Her face was pale and dripping with sweat. Her clothes were unkempt and covered with dirt and blood. She clutched her stomach as she walked as if she were having gastrointestinal problems. Unfortunately, I knew it was far more serious than that, given the sheer amount of dried blood caked on her shirt.
At the end of the tube, I heard a soft pop followed by a choking noise. A sudden gust of wind bowled into me, bringing with it a lungful of musty, dusty air. I coughed. Clearly, Cartwright was making progress.
But was he making enough of it?
We hustled over to Beach’s car and I helped Diane into the rear. Then I ran to the opposite end, away from the Bell.
“I finished clearing off the debris,” Beverly said. “How is she?”
“If we get her to a doctor, she’ll live. But she doesn’t have much time.”
“Did they buy your bluff?”
“They’re confused but it won’t take Chase long to get his act together.”
“Do we have the five minutes?”
“We’ll be lucky if we get two.”
She put her hands on the back of the pneumatic car and began to push with all of her strength. I joined her and after twenty seconds of backbreaking effort, we managed to get Beach’s old car moving.
At first, it took all our combined strength just to move it an inch. The second inch was a little simpler and the third one was even easier.
Ever so slowly, we pushed the car along the groove toward the open tube. Despite its heavy weight and old age, it slid at a smooth and silent pace.
I saw shifting shadows out of the corner of my eye. They moved swiftly and silently, barely making a disturbance in the station. Four of them stole out of the tube and angled themselves toward the Omega.
Undoubtedly, they worked for Chase. They must’ve snuck into the tube before the door closed over. Since they were professional soldiers, I knew that they were equipped for the situation. Night-vision goggles were an absolute certainty. I just hoped that they weren’t paying too much attention to the slow-moving pneumatic car.
I eased myself out of the line of sight and continued to push against the car as hard as I could. Things were about to get ugly. Real ugly. And once that happened, all bets were off.
Suddenly, the station exploded into flames. The ground rumbled and a mighty boom pierced the air. A shock wave barreled into me and I fell to the ground. Looking up, I saw chunks of metal flying in all directions, slamming into the bedrock walls with chilling force.
As I rose to my feet, a burst of smoke spread out from the mangled wreckage of the Omega, blanketing everything in sight. Squinting, I saw four bodies lying on the ground, writhing in pain. They were still alive.
But I doubted they would last for long.