But taking his time, slowing a bit so he didn’t completely strip the screws, he got them out.
When the last screw fell to the floor of the shaft, he gave the panel a nudge.
It could be pushed free.
But where was he? Who might be there to see the panel fall out?
Surprise!
One thing he knew, one change to the plan: there was no way-if he did find Marshall-they would be able to get out this way.
Might as well just surrender.
Checking that he had a handgun in a side pocket, he wriggled the backpack free and nudged it down to his feet. His pack would have to trail behind him if he had any hope of getting out. He’d have to perform a circus trick to do it, pulling the pack along with his feet as he fell.
He thought of turning the headlamp off.
No, he thought. Better to leave it on. Could be a useful distraction.
If someone is down there waiting for me.
All right then, he thought. Time to go.
He gave the metal panel a firm push and it popped free, flying out, followed by him rapidly crawling through the newly made opening.
He tumbled to the floor.
Raine’s hands broke his fall, the pack landing on his body. He quickly rolled and sprung to his feet.
To see: cells. The corridor dark.
The right place. Jeez, the prison. He did it.
Then, a voice.
“Hey, who’s there? Hold on.”
The headlamp rendered Raine the only bright spot in the blackness, but it also shot out a light that let him see-and made it difficult for anyone looking at him.
Such as the Enforcer holding a rifle standing in front of him, the light in his eyes.
Raine pulled out his gun. No time to worry if the Enforcer had anyone with him. He fired three quick shots, the sound echoing in the narrow corridor.
The Enforcer went down.
And then Raine heard an unexpected voice. A familiar voice.
A female voice.
He moved down the row of cells, whipping his headlamp left and right.
Coming to a cell holding Loosum Hagar.
“Loosum? How the hell did you-”
“I’ll save the story for later, Raine. Go get that Enforcer’s keys and get me out of here. Whatever took out the power, it won’t stay down for long.”
Raine ran back for the keys and returned to the cell, letting Loosum out.
“Thanks for the rescue,” she said. “Didn’t know you cared.”
“Afraid I’m not here for you,” he said unapologetically. “Is there someone else down here?”
Could the Authority have taken Marshall, begun the process of breaking him down in the middle of the night? Could the Resistance leader be dead already?
“There’s someone down the other end. Looked like a bloody mess when they brought him back last time.”
Raine ran there. A man was curled on the floor of a cell. The headlamp picked up the dried splotches of blood. The man’s lips were cracked, bloody as well. He had been well worked over.
But he lifted his head up when he saw someone there, then opened his eyes.
Raine thought: Good… he can move.
“Captain John Marshall?”
“Yes.” Despite his battered state, the man sat up, blinking at Raine. “Is it time? Already?”
“Captain, I’m Lieutenant Nicholas Raine.” Then, as he had done dozens of times before-and because it seemed right-he added: “Reporting for duty.”
And he saluted.
Loosum ran up to Raine as he got Marshall’s cell open.
“We got to get moving. As long as we have this darkness, we have to take advantage of it.”
On cue: the lights in the corridor flickered, then came on.
“Shit.” He turned to Marshall. “ That changes things. You okay to move, Captain?”
Marshall nodded. “Yeah. Got a gun for me?”
“One for me, too,” Loosum added.
He handed the shotgun to Loosum and the rifle to Marshall. He’d make do with the handguns for now.
“Come on,” Loosum said.
Raine gave her a look. “Hold on.” He looked at Marshall. “Captain, one more thing. I brought a hard drive. From the Dead City. Lassard has cracked the Ark override code. It’s on there. But we need to-”
Marshall shook his head as if trying to understand what the hell Raine was talking about.
Then a half smile. “God, yes. Have to get into their system. That means we’re not quite ready to leave. Good thing everyone must be outside looking for you.”
“We’re not leaving?” Loosum rolled her eyes.
“There’s a terminal… down there.” Marshall pointed up the hall. “It’s gotta be tied into the central computer. If we can dump what you got on their computer system, that should do it.”
Marshall started walking, limping even as he tried to hurry.
Raine shot a look at Loosum, both of them seeing that escaping with the captain wasn’t going to be easy even without the detour.
But Marshall marched ahead, ignoring his pain, and got to the terminal.
Raine heard voices from above.
Someone has got to come down here, sooner or later.
“Give it to me,” Marshall said. Raine dug out the drive. Marshall tilted it back and forth, seeing where he could connect it to the terminal.
“Okay. We got to get that cover off.”
Raine took out his knife again and used it to pry open the metal siding of the computer. It popped free, exposing the terminal’s insides.
Marshall leaned forward and stared at the array of boards and wires.
“All of this is our tech here,” he said to himself. “Early twenty-first century. Meant for the future.”
Raine stood by the captain’s side as he continued to mutter. “God, I wish Lassard was here. Need to just get it linked so the terminal can read the drive. Then-maybe-we can upload it.”
The voices from above were getting louder.
Loosum leaned close to Raine and whispered, “I’m going to go stand by the stairs.” She gave the shotgun a shake. “In case we get company.”
Raine nodded.
“All right. Just need a fucking USB port. Buried in here. There. See one. Okay, that should do it.”
He watched Marshall pull out a wire and attach it to the drive. Then his eyes moved toward the terminal’s monitor as it registered the attached drive.
“When it copies the data, it will go right on the main servers drive, then all through the system. If Lassard did his work well, it will act like a Trojan Horse.”
“A virus?” Raine said. “Nasty. Good goddamn thing Cross doesn’t have his hands on the best computer scientists that were buried. Not yet, anyway.”
Marshall turned and gave Raine a smile, some light coming back into his eyes. “They’re still to come. And now-maybe, with luck-we’ll get them.”
He hit some keys on the computer keyboard. A screen asked for approval of a data upload. Another click. No viruses found.
Lassard had created a clean program. And after a few seconds a welcome notice on the monitor:
Data Uploaded.
Marshall backed away. “That’s it. Christ, that’s it.”
Noise from the stairs.
Loosum hissing at them.
“Here comes… someone…”
Marshall nodded at Raine, and they went to the stairs.
From the steps of the heavy boots on the stairs, there had to be at least three Enforcers.
Had the power come back on from the backups? Or maybe they had the main feed already up and running?
Going to be fun getting the hell out of here, Raine thought.
“On-” Marshall coughed, the sound too loud “Shit. On my go.”
The boots started to hurry, hearing the voices.
The Enforcers came to the turn in the stairwell, and now the three could be seen racing down, guns at the ready.
But sitting ducks for Raine and his companions.
They all fired and the Enforcers went tumbling down the stairs like wooden targets.
“You okay, Captain?”
“Just get moving, Raine.”
They began to hurry up the stairs, climbing over the soldiers.