“Down!” Martina repeated.
Riley dropped.
As soon as Riley was out of the way, Martina fired, but instead of rapidly emptying the magazine like her friend had done, she took a second to aim each shot. Three men went down, but the other two were able to hop the center barrier and duck behind it before she got to them. Of the three she hit, two appeared critical enough that she didn’t think they would be getting up anytime soon. The third, however, pushed back to his knees and raised his gun before she realized what he was doing.
His shot sailed wide, but her answering bullet did not.
Keeping her gun aimed at the area where the other two had disappeared, she moved over to her friends and was horrified to find Noreen’s shirt covered in blood.
“Martina?” Noreen whispered.
Martina grabbed her friend’s hand. “I’m here.”
“We…found you.”
Martina’s gaze switched back and forth between the divider and Noreen. “You did.”
“I was so…worried.”
“I was worried about you, too.”
“Did you…did you find…him?”
“What?”
“Ben. Did you find…him?”
“I found him.”
Noreen smiled for a moment and then winced in pain.
“You’re going to be fine,” Martina said. She drew her hand away. “Hang in there.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back.” Martina looked at Riley and mouthed, “Watch her.”
Staying in a crouch, she moved over to the divider and carefully rose high enough to see over the concrete wall. The area where she’d expected the men to be hiding was deserted. As she started to rise a few more inches to get a better look, hands grabbed her and yanked her over the divider.
Sour breath poured down on her from a laughing bald man. “A new one. Our lucky day.”
Another man, with hair in a ponytail, jerked Martina’s gun out of her hand and shoved its muzzle into her cheek. “Bitch shot our friends,” he said. “I’m thinking we should kill her now.”
“Oh, she’s going to die all right,” bald guy said. “We’re just going to have a little fun making it happen.” He tapped Martina’s cheek as if she were a child. “That all right with you, honey?”
Martina stared a hole through him.
The man laughed again as he stood up. “Hey, kids,” he said in the direction of Riley, Noreen, and Craig. “Hide-and-seek’s over. We win. Why don’t you all come on over here and we’ll—”
A rifle blasted, but it was the sound of a bullet zipping through the air right before it pierced the bald man’s head that Martina would remember. As the man crumpled to the ground, his partner whipped around, trying to see where the shot had come from.
The next bullet caught him square between the eyes, laying him out on the asphalt only a foot from his friend.
Unsure who had done the shooting, Martina stayed on the ground.
“It’s all right,” a familiar voice yelled. “It’s all clear now.”
Martina rose to her feet and spotted Pax and Nyla standing on the overpass. Pax was cradling a rifle against his chest, while Nyla was slinging hers back over her shoulder.
“You all right?” Pax called down.
“I’m okay,” Martina said. “But Noreen’s been shot.”
She looked over at her friends. Riley’s face was drawn, her eyes wet. Craig’s didn’t look any better. Between them lay Noreen, her eyes closed, her chest unmoving.
“No!” Martina leapt over the barrier and ran back to them. She picked up Noreen’s head. “Hey, Noreen, come on. You’re going to be fine.”
Riley put a gentle hand on Martina’s shoulder. “She’s gone.”
“No. She can’t be. She can’t!”
Noreen had been Martina’s best friend for as long as she could remember. How could she be dead? Martina tilted Noreen’s head back and started to administer CPR. She was still pumping Noreen’s chest when Ben, Pax, Nyla, and the others reached them.
“It’s over,” Ben whispered in her ear, a soft hand on her back.
“No!” She blew more air into Noreen’s mouth.
“Let her go.”
“I can’t.”
He wrapped his fingers over her shoulders but didn’t pull. “You have to. For her.”
Martina blew in another breath. As she moved back, she looked at her friend’s face.
She could see now that Noreen was gone. Gone and never coming back.
She leaned back down, pulled her friend into her arms, and cried.
They found a station wagon to put Noreen in and returned to Dodger Stadium, where they buried her that afternoon on a hill overlooking downtown.
Martina and Ben remained by the grave long after everyone else left. For a while, neither said a word, but finally, slowly, Martina began to talk, telling stories about Noreen — fighting over boys as far back as elementary school, helping each other cheat on tests, and learning together to play softball. She managed a few smiles at her friend’s occasional cluelessness, but at the end, there were only more tears.
“You can’t blame yourself,” Ben said.
How could she not? First, she had abandoned Noreen, and in the end she had not acted quickly enough to save her.
“If you hadn’t insisted on looking for them, all three would be dead now,” he told her. “You saved Riley and Craig. That’s what you need to remember.”
She leaned against him.
He was sweet and he meant well, and maybe someday she’d see it his way, but not today.
28
Staying low, Omar flew the helicopter up the East River until Ash thought they’d gone far enough. Ash then gave Chloe the signal that it was her turn.
She hit the SEND button on Vintner’s phone and raised it to her ear.
Celeste clicked Accept the moment the call was directed to her computer. “Vintner?”
“No, Director. It’s Reni Barton.”
“Why am I speaking to you again? Where the hell is Commander Vintner?”
In a hesitant voice, Barton said, “Ma’am, the, um, I’m sorry to report that the commander ran into an ambush on level eight. The medic has him sedated but he needs medical attention.”
Celeste closed her eyes for a moment to rein in her frustration. Then she slowly said, “I need you to tell whoever’s in charge that I need one of the helicopters back here immediately.”
“That won’t be a problem, ma’am. We’re actually inbound to you right now with the commander so he can get some help. The pilot tells me we’re only a few minutes out.”
Celeste cocked her head. “You are?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Finally, a break.
“Tell the pilot not to power down after he lands,” she ordered. “He needs to get me out of here.”
“Ma’am?”
“Just do it!” Celeste disconnected the call. To Dalton, she said, “Tell everyone in group A we depart in ten minutes with or without them. Once we reach NB110, I’ll send the helicopter back for group B.”
“Yes, Director.”
Celeste rose from her control-room chair for what she knew would be the last time. Another base, perhaps NB110 in Pennsylvania, would be the new Project Eden main headquarters. But she could figure that out later.
Right now she needed to pack.
Chloe disconnected the call. “We’re cleared for landing.”
Ash smiled and said over the intercom, “Omar, take us in.”
Omar rose until they were hiding in the clouds before he headed toward NB016.