Randall said defensively, “I’m a good businessman. But people cheated me.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Enough jawing. We need to get going.” He took a key from his pocket and tossed it to one of his men. “Take off the shackles.”
The man handed his rifle to his colleague and came forward to do this.
Randall held up a stopwatch. “Once you’re unshackled, you get five minutes. You can grab the weapons behind that door.” He added with a grin, “And come up with a plan to survive. There’s another door on the far side of the room. You go through there.” He paused as the grin widened. “And then you run like hell.”
Once the chains were off her, Reel rubbed her wrists and said, “Just to be clear, when we kill all of you, we’re home free, right?”
Randall laughed, but Reel’s expression didn’t change. She gazed at each of the other men, lingering on their features, sizing them up. Then she returned to Randall.
“Is that right?”
“I’m not sure you have to worry about that.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, it’s fucking right, okay,” snapped Randall impatiently.
“Thank you,” said Reel. “I’ll be sure to notify your wife of your passing.”
Randall smirked at her. “You’re living in an alternate reality.”
“You have no clue to the reality I live in. But you’re going to find out tonight.”
She walked through the door to get her weapons. Robie and the others followed her.
CHAPTER
70
“Do you speak English?” Blue Man asked the two people in scrubs, as Robie and Reel quickly looked over the weapons stacked on a shelf in the room.
The woman wiped her eyes and nodded. “Yes.”
“What are your names?”
“I am Camilla and he is Mateo.”
“Do you have any experience with guns?”
Camilla shook her head but Mateo said, “I have fired a pistol. My father’s.”
Robie hefted a rifle and looked at Reel, who was sliding a nine-mil into her waistband. She tossed one to him. He automatically checked the action and popped the mag to make sure there was ammo loaded in.
That was tough to do because it was so dark he could barely see the guns.
JC Parry walked over to them and said, “I can shoot either a rifle or a pistol.”
Reel handed him a pistol and an extra mag.
Parry took it and said, “These are some sick sons of bitches.”
“Let’s just focus on turning them into dead sons of bitches.” She glanced over at Lamarre. “What do you want, pistol or rifle?”
When he didn’t answer Reel snapped, “We’ve got maybe thirty seconds. Which one?”
“Pistol, I guess.”
“You ever fired one?”
“No. But I carried one at my old job.”
She quickly showed him what to do.
Robie said, “I’ve been counting clicks. We’ve got sixty seconds.”
Reel handed Blue Man a pistol and an extra mag. Robie passed a pistol to Mateo and shoved another pistol into his waistband.
He looked up as Malloy came over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t believe it’s come to this.”
“I can’t believe a lot of things about this place.”
“If we get out of here alive, I’m going back to New York.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” He handed her a nine-mil and gave her a reassuring smile. “For what it’s worth, Jess and I are pretty good in situations like this.”
She returned his smile. “Something I already know.”
Reel called out, “What’s our ammo count?”
“All told we’ve got a few hundred rounds,” Robie answered.
“Roger that.”
She walked over and eyed the door they had used to enter the room. She hurried over to the shelf, ripped off a metal slat, placed one end on the concrete floor, and jammed the other end against the doorknob.
“Good thinking,” said Blue Man.
“Every second counts. Robie, any lights?”
He had just opened a box and held up two plastic flashlights. When he turned them on they emitted weak streams of light.
“They’re not NVGs but they’re better than nothing.”
Parry said, “Hell, they’ll give them a direct line to shoot us, even without the damn goggles.”
“That’s why we’re going to use them in a different way,” said Robie in a low voice.
Blue Man said, “I can help tactically.”
Robie and Reel stared at him expectantly.
Blue Man continued, “Years ago, because of my professional status and due to some national security issues, I toured the silo and was even given some blueprints of the facility, which I kept in my cabin. I studied them when I realized that this place might be the center of what was going on.” He pointed toward the far door. “Once we leave this room there’s a long corridor to the right. The second door on the left will take us through a series of other doors and passages, to what was the maintenance wing of the complex. That’s also where crew quarters are located. It’s a rabbit’s warren of spaces, which might give us some tactical cover.”
Reel looked at Robie. “And also the possibility of ambush.”
“Right.” He looked at Blue Man.
“Ready?” said Reel. “Let’s go.”
She took point, opened the door, and slipped through it. The others followed in single file, with Robie bringing up the rear.
“They’re gonna kill us all,” said Lamarre. “You know that.”
Robie, who was directly behind him, gripped his shoulder and said, “Just so you know, they killed Beverly Drango. Shot her and threw her body in a Dumpster in an alley in Denver.”
Lamarre whirled around. “They… they killed Bev.”
“Yeah. So start thinking about how you’re going to kill them back.”
Reel called out, “Robie, you want to test this thing?”
“Just thinking the same thing.”
Parry looked at Blue Man, who was walking beside him.
“What are they talking about, Roger?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I would rather have them with me right now than an entire Army brigade.”
“Works for me.”
Robie dropped back after telling Lamarre to keep going.
Malloy went with him even though he shook his head and pointed for her to continue on with the others.
“No,” she said firmly.
He used the flashlight to briefly illuminate where they had come from. Then he balanced the light on a broken piece of brick on the wall so that it was about eye height, with the weak beam pointed in the direction of where they had come.
He stepped back and took aim with his pistol after motioning to Malloy to get down on her knees.
He heard banging.
They were breaking through the jammed door.
Robie counted to five as he envisioned them crossing the room and then opening the door.
He heard the squeak and waited a few more seconds, allowing them to recon the situation and conclude that it was safe to step out.
But they didn’t wait. They stepped right out. That surprised him.
He could see their silhouettes, darker against the dark.
Robie opened fire, placing his rounds into legs, torso, and head. Ejected rounds from his pistol hit the floor.
Not a single one of the men he had shot at fell. Instead, they opened fire. The light shattered as they focused on that target.
But Robie knew with their optics that his hiding place would soon be uncovered. He did the only thing he could do. He grabbed up Malloy and they ran.
Shots hit all around them, pinging off the walls and ricocheting like pinballs.
“Robie!” she gasped.
“Keep going.”