Listen. Count.
There was a loud snap from somewhere behind her, not a bullet striking stone, but something more like a twig snapping or a piece of glass crunching underfoot.
Here they come.
There were more sounds from just around the corner, a clicking noise, a scuffle, grunts and a strange animal cry. Then silence. She tried to assemble the pieces of the auditory puzzle, but her apprehension — her raw primal fear — told her something very bad was coming.
She tensed, gripping the flashlight, preparing to shine it at the first hint of movement. If Professor was correct and the men hunting them were wearing night vision goggles, then the brilliant LED light would blind anyone coming around the corner, giving her a chance to strike back. If he was wrong, or if her timing was off even by a second, she would give her position away, and they would be all over her.
“Jade,” hissed Professor. “Coming your way.”
She let her breath out in a low sigh. The plan had worked; she had been the bait, and Professor — the trap — had caught something.
A few seconds later, a silhouette appeared from around the corner. In the moonlight, she could see something half covering a silvery-white face and almost panicked.
“It’s me,” Professor whispered, as if tuning into her sudden alarm. He passed something to her; a small plastic object that looked like a camera, with straps hanging from it. She knew it had to be some kind of night vision device. “Quick. Put it on.”
Jade slipped it over her head, fitting a small rubber cup. “I don’t see anything.”
“These things have a tilt-switch that shuts them off automatically. There’s a little button on top. Turn it off and then back on again. Hurry.”
She did as instructed and winced as a flash of green light hit her fully dilated pupil. The effect was startling. She now saw Professor as clearly as if they were both standing in broad daylight. He had a similar device covering one of his eyes, but that was not his only new acquisition; hanging from a sling over one shoulder was a gun — the kind she always associated with SWAT teams — and there was another one in his hands.
She looked past him and saw clearly for the first time, the stadium where they had decided to make their final stand. Beyond the mountainside was alive with strange dancing lights. They were beautiful and a little frightening.
“What are those lights?”
“PAQ4 aiming lasers. They’re invisible to the naked eye, but with NV, all you have to do is point and shoot.”
“How did they miss us then?”
“Lasers always point in a straight line. Bullets aren’t quite as predictable, especially with short-barreled weapons. They probably also didn’t take the time to zero them; just grabbed their new toys out of the box and went hunting.”
He handed one of the machine pistols to her. “Get the others. We’re going.”
“Going? I thought we were going to fight here.”
“We don’t have to. Those lasers show us where they are. All we have to do is avoid them.” He held up his hand and showed her a ring of keys. “If we can make it to the bottom of the hill, we’re home free.”
Home free sounded overly optimistic, but Jade didn’t argue. Gripping the unfamiliar weapon, she ran along the terrace to the seating area that overlooked the stadium floor. She had told Ophelia and Dorian to hide in the trees above the stadium. What had seemed like a good plan in total darkness was now revealed to be sadly deficient; she spotted them almost effortlessly, crouching down behind tree trunks that weren’t broad enough to conceal them.
Professor was right behind her. “Keep your finger off the trigger unless you’re ready to shoot,” he whispered. “The laser will give your position away. Hurry. They’re almost here.”
She grabbed hold of Dorion and lifted him erect. “Stay close. We’re going to make a run for it.”
“I can’t run anymore,” Ophelia protested, still half-panting from the ordeal of climbing the hill.
“Then I’ll drag you,” Jade threatened.
“It’s all downhill from here,” Professor added, as if deciding to play good cop to Jade’s bad. “Just a little further.”
Despite his assurance, they were soon climbing again. The assault force was converging on the stadium and the only avenue of escape was, once again, up. Fortunately, as the killers funneled into the stadium, the route back down the hill was left wide open. Jade took the lead, easily picking out a trail that cut east across the slope, while Professor brought up the rear, keeping a constant watch on their foe.
“Pick up the pace,” he advised when they had been running for just a few minutes. “I think they found the guys I took out. They just shut off their lasers. So much for our early warning system.”
Jade did not tell him that they were already moving as fast as she dared go. The night vision monocular was playing havoc with her depth perception, making her think the ground was closer than it really was, but Dorion and Ophelia were quite literally stumbling in the dark. Fortunately, the path was mostly flat and free of obstructions.
As they skirted along the top of the theatre, Jade could see all the way down to the museum building, and to the ribbon of asphalt that cut across the slope, right above the Gulf of Corinth. She could also see four cars, probably from a rental agency, lined up on the roadside.
Almost there.
Something flashed beside her, as bright as a lightning strike, followed immediately by the sound of tree branches breaking. She looked back and saw one of the aiming lasers stabbing down at them. The shooter was at least five hundred feet away, the distance probably the only thing that had saved them, but Jade’s sense of imminent victory had taken a direct hit. The killers had found them again.
Survival meant a sprint to the finish.
“Use your flashlights,” Jade shouted, tearing off her night vision monocular.
“Jade, they’ll see us!” warned Professor.
“They already know we’re here.” She turned on her light and shone it down the path. The cone of illumination was paltry compared to the world revealed in the monochrome display of the NV device, but this was a light that Dorion and Ophelia could follow as well. She started running, charging down the hill like the hounds of Hell were nipping at her heels.
She could no longer see the road, but after about a minute of running, the museum building appeared out of the gloom.
“Jade!”
She glanced back. Dorion and Ophelia were still with her, but Professor had stopped. He made an underhanded throw and something sailed through the air toward her. She caught it reflexively and felt the familiar shape of keys in her hand.
“Get the car started. I’ll try to buy you a few seconds.”
Jade swallowed as the implication of his words hit home, but she nodded and resumed running.
They skirted around the perimeter of the museum and scrambled down a dirt embankment at the roadside. Jade let her machine pistol hang from its sling, and fumbled with the keys, pushing random buttons on the alarm remote. The headlights of the second vehicle in the line flashed, and then to Jade’s amazement, it started up.
Nice, she thought, and then shouted, “Get in!”
The others were already angling for the passenger side. She almost grinned when she heard Dorion call out, “Shotgun.”
It was a newer Mercedes GLK 350 compact sport utility vehicle. She slid behind the wheel and quickly oriented herself to the essential controls. The previous driver was evidently a lot taller than she was, but there was no time to fiddle with the adjustment buttons. She scooted forward until her right foot could reach the pedal, and then shifted into gear.