That told Kris all she needed to know about her company.
She nodded, thinking through what mattered most and shortening her list of priorities. ''Lieutenant, secure your prisoners and the perimeter of the great hall against a counterattack. I'll get us medical aid.''
Kris turned to Jack, muttering under her breath, ''Where are those ambulances?''
They headed down the stairs. ''Boys, stay close to us or you may be mistaken for prisoners. You deserve our gratitude.''
Admittedly, they'd turned their coats several times in the last—Kris glanced at her watch—only a half hour! Still, Bronc and his friends had done the right thing after doing the wrong thing.
''Marines coming in,'' Jack called as they approached the main floor. It was good he did.
They were still blacked out from head to toe, a shadow of a shadow. That camouflage had probably saved their lives tonight. But now they were approaching fellow Marines.
There had been a fight here. Kids with rifles and men in dark clothes lay where they'd fallen.
Several of Penny's hand grenades had been used here.
A statue had been rolled up to the stairwell exit. A marine and a security guard looked at Kris over pistol sights. Beside them, two or three more lay where they had died.
The Marine raised the aim of his automatic and whispered a dry mouthed ''Semper Fi.''
And they passed within.
The south hall had gone from being a bright, gala party to a dark, bloody, slippery mess of groaning humanity. At least it groaned where it wasn't deadly silent.
It was far too quiet for Kris's tastes. She concentrated on watching her step and getting where she needed to go.
Behind her, one of the teens added the contents of his stomach to the slime they waded through.
Penny and several surviving Marines held the middle of the hall. The Navy lieutenant and those around her were just risking sitting up.
While several of the Marines stood to greet their comrades, Penny settled for just sitting there. A long sliver of bronze had sliced through the flesh of her upper right arm.
The lieutenant eyed the spear point in her flesh and shook her head ruefully. ''I survived this whole bloody mess, and then you make your usual entrance and whack me one.''
''Sorry about that,'' Kris said, and tried to put some actual feeling into the words. Even she didn't hear any. ''I'll try to get someone to look at that.''
''In a thousand years after the really bad cases are cared for,'' Penny said, looking around. ''Where are the ambulances?''
''I don't know.'' Kris hated to admit it. ''And Nelly says we're still being jammed. Can't say squat.''
''Kris, I think I can home in on the jamming,'' Nelly said. ''It seems to be coming from below us.''
Kris took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. So this thing wasn't over yet. Maybe she could hand Nelly over to a fresh Marine and let a couple of them go chasing into the bowels of this building.
So there is a limit to just how much a Longknife can take, a small voice said somewhere inside her.
And this isn't it, another part of her growled.
''Thank you, Nelly. Jack, you and your Marines up for another ramble through the artwork?''
Jack nodded. The ''Ooo-Rah'' from the Marines might have been a bit below their usual enthusiasm, but they got it out.
From outside somewhere came the familiar sound of M-6s barking on single shot. Marines had someone under fire.
The rapid staccato of machine pistols answered them, but only for a few seconds. Then the night got quiet again.
''Nelly?'' Kris asked.
''I am still jammed.''
Kris turned back for the stairs.
''Be careful, Kris,'' Penny called. ''Don't be the last one killed in this shoot-out.''
''I'll do my best,'' Kris answered over her shoulder.
''So will I,'' Jack shot back.
''Us, too,'' the Marines added.
''Me, too,'' came from the kids who trailed right along.
''I guess I better go along with you,'' one of the Marines with a rifle said. ''Someone might have left a little gift behind and I suspect you'll want a demolition tech,'' he muttered.
And so Kris led her scratch team once more into the black mouth of hell.
56
The emergency lights in the stairwell had been a casualty of the fight here. Kris found herself searching for a foothold among the dead bodies and failing.
Jack brought up his flashlight without being asked.
The defenders above had put up quite a fight.
Kris made her way carefully, avoiding the bodies, going from one patch of damp blood to the next open bit of gore. Behind her the others followed in her tracks.
She reached the ground floor and peeked out over the sights of her rifle.
The butcher bill for tonight was going to be huge.
These people must have been mowed down early in the attack. Many of them appeared to be security types taking a break, or actual government workers who'd picked a bad night to work late. Grant hadn't considered these folks important enough to keep alive.
''Nelly, where's that jammer?'' Kris bit out
''Not on this floor.''
''Is there a basement or sub-basement?'' Kris asked over her shoulder.
''There's a door here, in the back of the stairwell,'' a kid's voice called.
''Don't touch it,'' the demolition tech called.
Too late.
The explosion was subdued, but the boy's scream was harsh on the taut nerves left by this evening.
Kris and the Marines got back to the stairwell to find two boys bleeding. One badly.
Jack stripped off the boy's belt and made a tourniquet for the shattered arm. Another Marine cut strips from the boy's shirt and used it to bandage his chest.
The demolition expert ran his fingers around the door. It was still solidly closed.
''Why don't you wait outside?'' he suggested to Kris and the rest.
Nobody argued with him.
A long moment later there was a click, and the sergeant said, ''The door's open. You all stay here while I check out the stairs.''
Kris felt guilty, but she stayed put.
''Do you need some light?'' Bronc said, eyeing the darkness yawning from the newly opened stairwell.
''Don't mind if you do,'' the expert said, ''but you stay well behind me and don't touch anything you don't have to.''
Bronc followed the sergeant, one hand holding a light, the other hand in his pocket.
The other kids and the Marines moved as far from the door as they could.
''It's clear to the next landing'' came a full minute later. ''Stay to the center of the stairs and don't touch the walls.''
They followed, Jack first, Kris second, the remaining three kids coming up the rear.
''Is it on this level?'' Kris asked Nelly.
''It is at the other end of the building, the north end, and I think it is a floor lower. Or maybe the floor angles down. I do not know, Kris.''
''There's more stairs here. Give me a second to check them,'' the sergeant said, and moved off, with Bronc two steps behind him.
Kris glanced up. There were emergency lights in the corners. Tiny red lights flashed, testimony that they worked, just turned off. She announced that.
''Yeah, I noticed that, too,'' the sergeant drawled back. ''I didn't really want to see what happened if I turned them back on. Do you?''
Kris agreed to the dark.
A moment later they were descending to the next level.
Emergency lights were on here, making this concrete sub-basement seem almost cheerful after the rest of the evening.
There also were no bodies. No wreckage from the fight. Here was a simple, functional area where workers did what needed to be done to make the rest of the place work.
It seemed almost painfully normal.
''The jamming is coming from the far end of the hallway,'' Nelly announced.
The sergeant led off, carefully doing his job. The rest followed in his footsteps.