Something in the urban sprawl below catches Judd’s eye. ‘What’s that?’
Corey turns to him. ‘Hmmm?’
Judd points. ‘That. What’s that — down there?’
Corey follows the direction of his ringer and takes it in. ‘Oh.’ He looks closer, surprised. ‘I don’t — I don’t know.’
A giant orange fireball silently rolls skyward from the Santa Monica Freeway five kilometres away, the sound too distant to register. In quick succession three more explosions blast into the sky.
‘Christ.’ Judd can’t see what’s causing the explosions, but he remembers reading about a multi-car pile-up on Germany’s autobahn years ago. It killed ten people, caused dozens of fires and destroyed fifty cars. Was something similar happening here? Another two explosions punctuate the skyline, one with the flaming shell of vehicle within it. ‘What the hell’s going on?’
Matty Bowen’s voice echoes as he approaches along the hallway and talks into his phone: ‘No, it’s so bad my DVR refuses to record it. I’m not saying his style of writing is old-fashioned, but I just saw it out shopping for a single-level house because its kids have left home and it doesn’t want to climb the stairs any more. Yeah, we’ll talk later.’
He hangs up and Corey turns to him. ‘Matty?’
‘Guys, you’re on in fifteen —’
‘Look.’
Bowen turns and looks where the Australian points.
Another giant orange fireball rips skyward from the freeway. The agent takes it in, unperturbed. ‘They must be shooting the new Transformers down there —’
The dog barks.
Judd and Corey turn to Spike as he raises a paw and points at the Hollywood Freeway on the other side of the city.
It bursts into flames. At the point where the freeway crosses Vine Street, a series of explosions launch giant fireballs into the sky. Unlike the distant Santa Monica Freeway this one is less than half a kilometre away so they can see and hear everything clearly.
‘Migod.’ Even though Judd looks directly at it he can’t quite process what is happening. He blinks, to make sure his eyes aren’t playing tricks, then refocuses. Cars and trucks and motorcycles explode — but not because they’re part of an accident. No, they just — blow up, like they’ve been filled with explosives then detonated. He glances at Corey. ‘What’s happening?’
The Australian shakes his head as he stares at the flames, dumbfounded. ‘Never seen anything like it. Looks like a bloody terrorist attack. Could it be a film shoot?’
Judd doesn’t know the answer. It doesn’t feel like a film shoot, but why would terrorists attack a freeway? Granted, if you were going to do it LA was the place, but if you wanted to do some serious scar-the-country’s-psyche damage in this city surely you’d take out the Santa Monica Pier or the Universal Studio Tour — or Disneyland.
Spike barks.
Corey turns to him. ‘I reckon the safest place is right here, mate—’
Boom. The explosion on the street directly below them flashes white and the building shakes, the noise like thunder. The window-pane directly in front of them cracks from side to side.
‘Jeez-us.’ Judd recoils, then looks down at a roiling ball of flame which kisses the side of the building as it races past, turns the world orange for a split second.
Bowen’s voice trembles. ‘What was that?’
Judd studies the road directly below and takes in the twisted remains of a burning vehicle. He’s pretty sure it used to be some kind of van. His eyes move, find a shiny silver Caltex tanker truck that trundles to a stop just near the wreck.
The first question that pops into his mind is whether or not the gleaming tanker is full of fuel. The second question is what kind of damage it would do if it exploded while full of fuel—
Ka-boom! The tanker explodes and Judd has his answers. The first is ‘absolutely’ and the second is ‘much more than you could imagine’. The initial flash is brighter than the sun, burns a ghost image into his retinas.
‘Get down!’ His words are cut off as the brutal shockwave punches in every window. The three men duck for cover. Judd shields his head with his arms but feels the sting of glass on his face. Corey drops to his knees and covers Spike as he is showered with debris. Bowen ducks and crouches, hands over his face as what appears to be the truck’s engine block crashes through the roof, bounces once and slams into the wall between the twin elevators.
A deep groan cuts across the soundscape. Corey glances at Judd. ‘What the hell was that?’
The building twists beneath them — then lurches to the right.
Bowen looks extremely unhappy. ‘Guess they’re not shooting Transformers after all.’
Corey finds his feet. ‘We need to get out of here.’
The building leans to the left and they fight to keep their balance, stumble towards the elevators — and realise the engine block has destroyed the button pad.
‘Fire stairs!’ Judd jabs a finger in the direction of the green EXIT sign twenty metres away. As one they turn for it—
Shwump! Metal shears and cement shatters as the left side of the building falls away like a giant, terrible curtain, revealing a sheer drop and the sprawling city beyond. They all sprint for the fire stairs but now they’re running up an incline as the floor beneath them tips and slides towards the open side of the building.
Spike leads, Judd behind him and Bowen behind him, and Corey at the rear. The floor beneath the Australian collapses.
‘Corey!’ Judd pivots to grab him but he’s too far away. He falls—
Wham. Bowen catches Corey’s hand. ‘I got you!’
Terrified, Corey dangles over the gaping chasm, sixty metres above the ground. ‘But who’s got you?’
The shattered floor beneath Bowen collapses and drops—
Slam. Judd catches his hand. ‘I do.’
Corey and Bowen dangle over the abyss and their weight wrenches on Judd’s shoulder. It feels like it’s about to pop its socket. ‘Jesus Christ, you guys are heavy—’
The floor beneath Judd tips and he slides towards the chasm too.
‘Oh, damn …’
14
Crunch.
‘Ahhh!’ Something clamps around Judd’s right shoe, stops him from sliding over the edge. He looks back.
Spike.
‘Good dog!’
The canine bites down on Judd’s foot. Surprisingly it doesn’t hurt that much because the shoe leather is thick. Spike pulls back with everything he’s got but still the weight of the two men drag him and Judd towards the edge.
Shoulder screaming, Judd’s eyes find a metal rod, part of the cement floor’s reinforcement, which dangles a metre from the Australian. ‘Can you grab that?’
Corey reaches for it, can’t quite get to it.
‘You can do it!’ Bowen’s voice is a terrified croak.
Corey strains for the rod again, touches it — grabs it. ‘Yes!’
It comes free in his hand.
‘No!’ They say it in unison, their disappointment profound.
Judd slides towards the edge, can hear Spike’s paws rip at the carpet as he scrambles for traction.
Corey looks up at the shattered concrete above him. ‘Got an idea.’
Judd reaches the edge. ‘If you’re going to do something, do it fast!’
Corey reaches up with the metre-long rod and jams it between two bent pieces of pipe visible within the broken concrete. ‘Here goes.’