Maria wiped a hand over her head. She looked on the verge of losing it. “I know. You’re right. I’m having a real hard time absorbing all this. I mean Smithford’s dead, and now Clark’s going to tell the others that we killed him.”
“Let’s move,” Kevin said. “We have to get to Jack and hope he has Reynolds. It’s the only way we’ll be safe. And don’t you dare hesitate on killing these pricks. They’re the enemy now and they won’t hesitate to kill you.”
They took off running down the hall when gunshots erupted from behind, Kevin feeling the whoosh of the bullets as they just missed his head. Turning, he saw Clark pointing his gun in their direction. He fired back, hitting Clark twice in the chest, red flowers blooming on his white t-shirt.
“Drop the weapon!” came a voice from behind.
Kevin spun around and saw Maria with her arms up. Two guards were standing at the end of the hall, having just come from the stairwell. He didn’t even think about trying to get off a shot-the two M4’s pointing his way ensuring him a quick death. With no other options, he joined Maria and put his hands in the air.
Chapter 17
Only a few guards patrolled the bunker’s hallways after 9 p.m. There was no “lights out” rule forbidding Jack from leaving his room whatever time he felt like doing so. If he and Zaun came upon a guard, they would simply say they couldn’t sleep, needing fresh air, so to speak.
A s it turned out, they didn’t run into anyone, and reached Chambers’ room unimpeded. There were cameras in most of the halls, but that was something neither Jack nor Zaun could do anything about.
Jack knocked on Chambers’ door, and a few seconds later, the big guy showed himself, wearing a t-shirt and boxers, obviously ready for bed. He eyed both men.
“What brings you two here at this-” the man’s eye went wide as the steak knife Zaun was holding sunk into his neck.
Jack stared in disbelief, watching the blade cut across the man’s throat, leaving behind a cavernous wound. Blood gushed, covering Zaun’s arm and Jack’s face and chest. Chambers’ hands shot out, one grabbing Jack, the other Zaun, but the man’s grip was weakening fast, his eyes staring at Jack in astonishment. Zaun kicked him in the stomach, sending him tumbling backward into the room.
Zaun shot passed Jack into the room, yanking him inside. Jack watched Zaun go over to Chambers as the man thrashed around on the floor, blood covering the room. “Shut the door, Jack,” Zaun said, harshly.
Jack stood motionless, unable to catch up with what had happened. He could only stare as Zaun leaned over Chambers and plunged the knife’s blade into the man’s chest, stilling him in seconds.
Turning to look at Jack, Zaun repeated his command to shut the door.
Shaken from his stupor, Jack reached for the door and closed it.
“Start looking for-” Zaun stopped mid-sentence and darted over to the nightstand positioned by the bed. Picking up a small piece of rectangular plastic, credit-card-like in appearance, he asked, “Is this it?”
“I… I. ” Jack’s mind was swirling, unable to stop seeing the image of Chambers’ neck opening up and blood pouring out. He had known the man. Had spoken to him about life. The guy had saved his and Zaun’s life back in the alley. He began panicking, wondering if they had made a mistake. What if Kevin was wrong about everything? Or crazy?
Zaun walked up to Jack and slapped him across the face. “What’s the matter with you?”
“You killed him.”
“You’re damn right I did. We couldn’t take a chance with this one, Jack. He would’ve smelled something was off. I had to act, get the first kill over with. I’m sorry if I startled you. Go throw up if you need to, but we need to keep moving.”
Jack stared at Zaun’s blood covered hands, the knife’s blade dripping with red.
Zaun grabbed Jack’s arms, and looked him in the eyes. “You remember why we’re here? What we have to do in order to get our asses out of here?”
Jack nodded. “Yeah, just let me get cleaned up.”
“Make it fast, we have to go.”
He hurried to Chambers’ bathroom. Looking in the mirror, he felt his stomach churn. His heart was beating fast, too fast. He needed to puke. Leaning over the toilet bowl, he hurled. He felt better. Back at the sink, he washed Chambers’ blood from his hands and face, then ran his jacket under the shower for a minute, getting it as clean as possible.
“I’m fine now,” he said, walking back into the room.
“Good,” Zaun said. “I didn’t enjoy killing him. I’d rather have tied the bastard up and left him here, but I didn’t survive all those days in my apartment, for you to risk your life rescuing me, only to be tortured to death. We’re getting out of here, Jack.”
“Hold on,” Jack said, then walked over to where a jacket was hanging up on a coat rack. Under the garment was a gun harness with a sidearm attached. Removing the piece, Jack saw that it was a Desert Eagle. 44 magnum, a powerful handgun. He ejected the clip, saw that it was loaded, then popped it back in and racked the slide, sending a bullet into the chamber. Taking off his wet jacket, he slid into Chambers’ harness and replaced the gun to the holster, before putting his jacket back on.
“Jack,” Zaun said, “you going to be able to use that?”
“I’ll be fine. It’s us or them, right?”
Zaun smiled. “Right.”
They left Chambers’ room, heading to Reynolds’ place, when someone yelled from behind.
Both men turned around and Jack was glad he decided to zip up his coat.
“Where are you two headed?” the guard asked. Jack recognized the man; name was Jacob, Ron Jacob, but had never spoken to him. The one time Jack did try talking to him, the guy said he was busy and for Jack to move along. Jack thought he was an asshole, but that didn’t mean he deserved to die. Then again, maybe he did. He was a high-ranking guard, always with Chambers and the others.
The man came closer, an M4 machine gun in his hands, but pointed at the floor. “Is that blood?” the man asked.
Jack turned to see that Zaun hadn’t cleaned the blood very well from himself, a bit showing on his sleeves and neck. He closed his eyes, furious with himself for not making sure they looked okay. If they made it passed this guard, they would both need to be more aware of such things.
“I’m hurt,” Zaun said, holding his side.
The guard looked Zaun up and down. “I’ll alert Doc Fredrich; take you to his office.”
Jack thought it odd that the man didn’t ask how hurt Zaun was or how Zaun became injured. Maybe he didn’t care or maybe he figured if Zaun was standing, walking, the injury was minor.
“We can’t let him take us there, Jack,” Zaun whispered as he leaned on his friend’s shoulder, faking a grimace. “You’ve got to take him out.”
Keeping his right hand on the trigger, the guard reached for his radio with the other.
Jack pulled the. 44 from his coat and pointed it at the guard. “Don’t,” he said.
“What the fuck are you doing?” the guard barked.
“We just want to leave,” Jack said. “Drop the weapon and turn around, hands against the wall.”
“Fuck you,” the man said, and went to raise his weapon.
Jack pulled the trigger. The gun erupted, the retort loud in the hallway. A small hole appeared in the man’s forehead before he collapsed backward to the floor.
“Damn it,” Jack hollered, lowering the weapon.
Zaun ran over and scooped up the machine gun, then grabbed the dead man’s Taser and sidearm. He tossed the man’s radio to Jack, then the Taser. Jack stuffed both items into his jacket pockets.
“Can we use these?” Zaun, said, holding up a bunch of zip-ties.
“We’ll need them for Reynolds.”
Zaun stuffed the ties into one of his pockets.
Jack stared at the dead man. He thought he would feel terrible, shaky, but he felt nothing.
“We have to move, Jack. I’m sure someone heard the shot.”
They walked quickly down the hall, making sure not to run in case they bumped into another guard. When they reached Reynolds’ door, Zaun stood off to the right of it, hiding the machine gun from view.