I turn left, cross another road, and head between two more buildings across the way. I know I am edging closer to the ramp and I want to create some space now in order to make a more direct approach. Plus, the ones behind me are getting a little too close for my comfort. I speed down the space between the buildings getting the grenade ready as before. My breath is coming a lot quicker now and I feel myself edging toward that heavy breathing stage where I will have no choice but to slow down.
The building sides end just a few feet before me. I toss the grenade casually behind me as I reach the corners, not wanting it to go too far but not wanting it to be on my heels either. The buildings shielded me before but this will not be the case this time. I turn to the right once again, keeping my pace up and angling across the street to buildings on the other side. I make it almost all of the way across the street before another explosion rips the night apart behind me. I do not stop to watch the aftereffects but keep going until I reach the side of the building. I then stop, turn, and lean my M-4 against it. There is only a few that made it ahead of the grenade before it went off. I take them down quickly with a few measured rounds. I turn and start running once again. I am really getting too old for this, I think heading down the side of the building in the direction of the ramp and feeling winded.
I do not bother stopping to get the attention of those behind me as I feel I have drawn them far enough away from the other group. It is now a matter of using my brains to gain some separation; even hopefully losing the crowd behind me. I know that is unlikely however as they can find me with their increased sense of sight, smell, and hearing. I run down a sidewalk leading by the side of the building.
“How are you doing Jack?” I hear Lynn call.
“Little busy right now,” I respond back after gaining a measure of breath with which to talk.
The cat and mouse game continues with me darting along buildings and across streets, sometimes doubling back in order to throw them off. They seem to have a hard time finding in which direction I go, perhaps due to the light breeze swirling around the buildings That gains me a little bit of separation each time, but the sound of my boots guides them in my direction every time. If it were not for their sense of smell, I would find a dark hole to climb in and wait the night out like I have done in the past; becoming a hole in the fabric of reality while guards search endlessly for me. I am also on the lookout for a ladder heading up the side of a building. It would have to be the right building without any other way of gaining admittance to the roof but I could hold them off from above if the right building presents itself. That is not the case so far and I cannot really slow down much to look. The sounds behind me let me know they are still on my trail.
I finally come up on the tarmac with the night runners closing in behind and break out onto it alongside a hangar. I pull up short. What the fuck!? I think seeing night runners surrounding the 130 in the near distance. This is majorly fucked up! I was planning on contacting Robert, dropping a grenade in my tracks, and racing to the aircraft. Easy, breezy right!? But that plan is now going to have to change with that major obstacle coming up just as I was about to hit the finish line.
I cannot take too long to decide what to do and I am spent. I could either find a building to break into and hold them off in some narrow hallway, or I can try and get the attention of the night runners around the aircraft, lead them away and circle back. I look quickly up at the starlit sky; Really!? After all of that, this is what I get? I think staring up at the brilliant, twinkling sky above me. Yes, really, they seem to answer back.
I need to think of something quickly or I will be doubly screwed. There are now night runners in front of me with more coming up behind.
“Hey you! I’m over here you stupid assholes!” I yell across the tarmac almost without thinking, making my choice without really analyzing it. Well, I had to make a decision without really having a right decision to choose from, I think taking a deep breath and steeling myself for the next few moments.
The night runners around the aircraft halt in place, stopping immediately in whatever action they were in the middle of and look in my direction. As one, they yell and begin running quickly towards me. I begin running directly at them, the distance between us closing quickly. Running in front to the hangar and reaching the other side, I dart to my left, running down the side to the street and sidewalk in front of it. The chase continues.
* * * * * *
Robert sits in the co-pilot seat staring out across the ramp feeling worried. The night runners continue to surround the aircraft but he is not paying any attention to them. He stares off into the distance across the ramp hoping for some sign or indication that his dad is okay. Nic is looking out over his shoulder having donned her dad’s helmet and sliding the night vision goggles over her eyes. Bri quietly stares out of the same window into the darkness. Lynn is in the back briefing the teams and getting them ready to exit. She wants to go now and find Jack but knows that this would be futile. They would be in running battle from the very get go and put all of them in danger. Pacing up and down the cargo compartment is not easing her anxiety.
Time passes by but Robert is not aware of it as he continues staring into the night and hoping. Wanting to do something but not knowing what that something could possibly be. He is startled out of his thoughts, trying to come up with something, by the sudden, muffled but loud screams from the night runners around them. He looks down and sees them take off as one across the ramp, racing across the pavement away from them.
“Michelle, go get Lynn!” He turns and says quickly over his shoulder, turning his eyes immediately back to the ramp. He would have asked Bri or Nic to go but knows they are staring out and feeling the same worry and anxiety as him.
“What’s up?” Lynn says as she comes up behind Robert.
Robert answers by pointing outside of the aircraft, the dim light from the stars in the clear sky above illuminating the now empty ramp.
“They just left all at once,” Bri says after a brief pause.
Lynn looks out at the empty ramp and hope first swells and then falls. Hope that Jack now has a clear shot to the aircraft and fades because she thinks she knows what has caught the night runner’s attention and where they are headed.
“I’ll be in back with the teams ready to go. Notify me on our ground frequency if you see or hear anything else,” she says stepping out of the cockpit once again.
“Jack, are you out there? Answer me please,” Lynn says over her radio on re-entering the cargo area and notifying the teams to stand ready.
I hesitate before emerging completely from the side of the hangar. I see the street and sidewalk running perpendicular several feet in front of me, paralleling the ramp. My timing is going to be critical here if I can time this at all. I hear the sounds of the night runners coming up behind me on the ramp and know I have just a small amount of time before they close in. My concern is those that were initially following me. Emerging now will allow them to see me and put them far too close, allowing them to catch me before I can get remotely close to the aircraft and safety.