The hall stretched, lengthening the distance between me and the staircase. No way would I make it to the first floor at this pace. Either I’d have to take the steps on my behind or slide down the banister. The world whirled in my vision. Right. I’ll be using my butt as a toboggan.
The woman panted in my ears.
A chill wormed its way down my spine. Good God what if propping me up caused her to deliver the baby? “How are you holding up?”
She blinked and set her jaw. “I can hold you.”
Not the answer I wanted but then I doubted she’d been asked the question too often. “I mean how far along are you.”
“Not far.” She gestured with her free hand to the staircase ten feet away.
Right. Same species divided by a common language. I frowned. How was it that she came to speak English anyway? Shouldn’t it be Egyptian or something? I reached for the wood balustrade delineating the open landing from the floor below. With my makeshift crutches, I moved more quickly.
At the top of the landing, I paused and swayed on my feet. My fingernails bent against the wood. I blinked to clear my vision and swallowed the bile.
“Seven and a half minutes until self-destruct.”
Please let Ulla be in a particularly dark corner of Hell. Bracing for another round of vertigo, I glanced down the staircase.
Huddled in a tight knot at the base of the stairs stood a dozen or so people. Their tattered clothing moved in the breeze of the air conditioning as their faces turned toward me like sunflowers to the morning sun.
I plopped down on the top stair. Using my legs, I dragged myself forward. My teeth rattled in my head as I landed on the lower riser. “Why are you still there?” I shouted to the sheeple below. “The building is going to explode. You have to leave.”
I waved my hands as I bumped down the stairs before pointing to minions one and two standing a little apart from the group. “You two need to let everyone evacuate.”
None of them moved.
Great. Another language barrier. Locking my jaw, I continued my bone jarring journey. Stupid Spam dots. How come I didn’t feel Ulla’s torture but I felt every inch of ground my butt hit? “Tell them they have to leave.”
“No.” The pregnant woman pushed up her tattered sleeve. She tugged a piece of rolled up paper from a knotted string and handed it to me.
I snatched it from her hand. Nothing like I little light reading while I bruised my behind. At least I’d reached the halfway mark.
“Seven minutes to self-destruct.”
“Piss off.” I unrolled the note.
If you are reading this than my final orders have be carried out and you are free. As much as I want you to run to my waiting arms and let me take you away from this fight, I know you will come to hate me should you ever learn the fate of your rescuer. The property humans around you are fitted with implants that are designed to explode should they set foot outside the building. I timed my arrival to make certain your CeeBees will have had enough time to interface with the APres Guarda systems and discover the deactivation code. Having seen the compassion in your beautiful brown eyes, I know you will wish to save them. But not, I beg you, at the cost of your own life. I have plans for you and those luscious lips of yours.
Victor
.
I clasped the note to my chest as happiness trilled through me. He hadn’t forgotten me. In his own way, he even rescued me. Oh, I could kiss the man. I would kiss the man. Once I got out of here.
The pregnant woman tugged on my arm. “You stop this dying. Yes?” She thumped her fist over her heart.
I smiled at her. “Yes. Definitely.”
I hoped.
No. I would. Right. Stall until my CeeBees talked to me. Talk to me. Stopping my descent, I pointed to the pregnant woman. “I need Ulla’s phone.”
Her eyes widened as she stared blankly at me.
“Phone.” I made the universal sign for phone by splaying my thumb and pinky from my closed fist. No reaction. Apparently, I needed to learn galactic sign language. Right. Tobias had called the Smartphone another name. “Datapad?”
Comprehension blazed across her scarred features. “Yes.”
She turned on her heel and pounded back up the steps.
Now we’re getting somewhere. I rubbed my hands together before pointing to the minions. “Help me up then carry me to the door. Everyone follow me.”
“Six and a half minute until self-destruct.”
I ignored Ulla. I could afford to. Victory was within my reach.
The two muscleheads bounded up two risers before bending down. They linked their arms under my knees and behind my back before lifting me.
To balance myself, I wrapped my arms around their necks.
The walk down the steps was smooth as if they’d done this before. They probably had. And I could admit, at least to myself that this was a much better way to travel than being lugged like dead meat. “To the exits.”
When we left the room, I glanced over my shoulder. In a silent cortege, the others crept behind us. None looked at me but kept their gaze on the floor. At least they’d removed those freaky clear masks that blurred their features.
Sighing, I faced the glass doors at the end of the long corridor. Bugs flit around the recessed lights of the outside portico, casting shadows that twisted and squirmed over the pavement.
Dawn would banish the shadows. Dawn would see us free. I patted my Sherpas’ shoulders when we reached the doors. Liberty was so close yet so far away. But not for long. “Down boys.”
They obediently stooped and set my feet gently on the floor. With my arms still around their shoulders, I increased the weight on my legs. Ha! They held. Smiling, I stepped away from my human support system and glanced back the way we’d come.
The others pressed themselves against the wall.
I’d have my work cut out getting them used to life on Earth, as free people not as invisible servants. But I needed Ulla’s Smartphone first. My bare foot tapped the cold linoleum. “Where is she?”
Good heavens, what if she collapsed and needed help. What had I been thinking to send a pregnant woman on the errand? Should I go after her? I stepped in that direction and a wave of dizziness crashed over me. Okay. I might be able to stand but climbing the steps was out of the question. I eyed the human wall art. Maybe I could send one of them after her.
“Six minutes until self-destruct.”
If I had more time, I’d silence Ulla first.
A whisper of fabric drifted down the hall. Cradling her protruding belly with one hand and clutching the cell in the other, the woman loped toward me. A smile wobbled on her lips as she came to a stop.
I grinned back and accepted the cell. “Now let’s deactivate you and get out of here.” My fingers tingled. The phone’s screen flickered from blue to green to yellow then white letters ballooned from the blank screen.
Scan the item to deactivate
.
Easy enough. Praise Buddha! The CeeBees hadn’t decided to couch the information in another test of my intelligence.
The pregnant woman’s smile slipped off her face. Her brown eyes slid from me to the cell. Worry lines appeared in her scarred face.
“Relax. It’ll be fine.” I pointed the top of the cell at the pregnant woman’s head then swept it down to her toes. The cell screen blanked before showing the crude outline of a female body. A flashing red dot appeared in the center of her chest. That had to be the bomb.
Aim at explosive device
.
I raised the cell, pointing it just above the bulge of her belly.
Transmitting deactivation code
. A red beam of light zeroed in on her heart.
Placing both hands over her stomach, she backed up a step.
“Relax. This won’t hurt a bit.” I hoped. I plastered a smile on my face and kept it there.
The red light blinked off.
Deactivation complete. Rescan for confirmation
.
I aimed the cell at her head then swept it down to her feet.
The cell screen blanked. When the woman’s form reappeared, no blinking red dots came with it.
Deactivation confirmed. Ready for new scan
.
“You’re clean.” I grasped her elbow and steered her toward the doors. “Go wait for me by the white truck.”
She may not speak English but she understood my meaning. So did the others. The first one in line shuffled forward, waiting his turn to be scanned.
Eyes wide, she set her hand on the door then pushed it open. Taking a deep breath, she stepped outside.
A shadow darted into the light and aimed a weapon at her head. She froze.
“Five and a half minutes until self-destruct.” Ulla chimed in cheerfully.
“Son of a monkey’s butt!” I didn’t just deactivate the explosive in her chest to have her head blown off.
“Rae?” The shadow moved then a face appeared above it. Tobias’s face.
Man did he look good. At least what I could see of it. Most of him remained a murky blur. Obviously some kind of shadow man suit. Nothing would surprise me.
“Oh praise Buddha, it’s you.” Relief bubbled through me as I scanned the next person. This time, I didn’t need prompting by the CeeBees. “Get that gun out of her face and take her to the truck. The building’s going to blow and I’ve got help these people.”
“Where’s Ulla?” Lowering the gun, Tobias pushed her into the shadows.
It grunted then Kuma and Minor’s faces appeared.
The Smartphone beeped the all clear for the man in front of me. Nodding, I pointed to the door. “She’s dead.”
When he stepped to the threshold, another rushed up to take his place.
Tobias turned him toward Kuma. “Secure them in the truck and prepare for hot evac.”
The beefy alien security guard nodded before taking each person by the arm and steering them into the night.
“I’m glad to see that your Rae tracking device worked.” I held the cell steady as it aimed at the next person’s heart.
“Five minutes to self-destruct.”
“Layla deactivated my tracker.” Tobias scraped his fingers through his short hair. “If you hadn’t sent me a message on an APres Guarda channel, we’d still be searching for you.”
So my CeeBees had been working. Guess they weren’t evil Spam dots after all. Still, they could have told me. “All that matters is you’re here and we get these people to safety.”
Tobias holstered his weapon. It disappeared in a shimmer of darkness by his hip. “Minor, inside. I want that self-destruct stopped.”
“Aye, sir.” The technician smoothed his wispy moustache before slipping behind the line of waiting people.
Minion One broke away from the wall to guide Minor to the computer room.
“Just turn off the countdown, not the self-destruct.” The screen in my hand flashed the all clear. I jerked my head toward the door and the next one shuffled forward.
“Four and a half minutes to self-destruct.”
I wouldn’t miss that bitch’s voice a single bit. My muscles twitched. Even knowing what I was doing, this was taking too long. For a moment, I sucked on my bottom lip. I might not be able to deactivate everyone in time.
“Rae.” Tobias chuffed. “Spec Forces hasn’t captured an APres Guarda safe house in years. There’s valuable information in here. Information that could turn the tide of the war.”
“If this place doesn’t go up in flames, the APres Guarda will know that these people are alive.” I nodded to the teenager in front of me and waved the next one up. “I won’t be able to protect them.” Or myself, for that matter. “They have to appear to have died.”
Tobias shook his head. “You’d save thirteen people’s lives, yet risk seven billion?”
“Fourteen lives.”
He inhaled sharply and closed his eyes closed for a minute.
“Hey, at least I didn’t lose a toe this time.” I wiggled all five of them before urging the next person up. “Besides, I’m not risking anything. While I was in Ulla’s House of Horrors, my CeeBees interfaced with APres Guarda’s computers. Not only did they send you that message, they know everything in here, including passwords to their mainframes.” Ulla’s sadism had given me the key to bring down the bad guys, or at least set back their plans a few decades. “That advantage will be lost if this place doesn’t blow.”
Tobias swore under his breath. “Minor shut off the verbal countdown but don’t attempt to access their firewalls.” Tobias set a finger against his ear. “You heard me. Fall back.”
“Thank you.” Still pointing the cell phone at the man in front of me, I rose up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. Warm skin rasped against my lips. I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled the scent of his citrus soap before pulling back. I focused on his mouth. “Remind me later to give you some of my CeeBees.”
His pupils dilated and he swayed closer.
My eyes fluttered. Or now works for me.
The cell in my hand chirped.
I jerked and straightened. Right. CeeBees. Explosion. Clearing my throat, I focused on the tattered man in front of me. “You’re clear. Next.”
“You’re not going to leave without them, are you?”
“Nope.” I swept my phone down the woman in front of me.
“Didn’t think so.” Tobias raised his phone. Three minutes and fifty-seven seconds remained. “You know the countdown isn’t always accurate?”
Seeing it wasn’t much better than hearing the gloating in Ulla’s voice.
“I think you’re going to need help.” He touched his cell to mine. The countdown faded away then the screen flashed blue, green and yellow. A second later, the CeeBees prompted him to aim the phone at the explosive device. Tobias gestured to the next woman in line.
With a glance at the others, she shuffled forward to stand in front of him.
“Relax.” Baring his teeth, Tobias repeated my gestures. “This shouldn’t hurt a bit.”
I coughed up a chuckle. Poor Tobias, I think he’d rather be tortured than help.
Minor jogged down the hall, Minion One on his heels. “Sir, I’ve silenced the countdown but we only have a few minutes remaining.”
Gritting his teeth, Tobias shooed our recently freed people out the door. “I’m aware of the countdown. Bring the car by the door. We’ll make it.”
I looked at the dwindling line. Five left, including the minions. “With seconds to spare.”