…pulled from his grasp.
As the hole above him cleared, he saw Kusum looking down. “What took you so long?”
“Go! Run! They are chasing me!”
Instead of running, though, she grabbed his arm and helped him out.
“Come on, come on,” he said, grabbing two of the boxes.
Kusum picked up the other two that were there, and they ran.
Van Assen’s encounter with Dettling ended up causing him to lose the intruder. He ran in the direction he thought the man had gone, but could not find him. When he ran into the junk area, he noticed that the barrels covering the hole by the wall had been moved.
Dammit!
Without hesitating, he dropped into the hole and squirmed under the wall. It was a tight fit, but he was just able to make it. When he climbed out the other side, he whirled around.
But there was no one there.
Dettling stared into the night.
Sanjay. My God.
The last time he’d seen the kid, Sanjay was holding a gun as he forced Dettling and several other managers into a storage room. And now here he’d been again, not only saying words that Dettling had often thought himself, but actually using the name Project Eden. Where could he have heard that?
Dettling knew he should have been running right behind van Assen, knew they should be doing everything they could to retrieve the vaccine, but the final straw had broken him.
What have we done?
He numbly walked into the building and down to his office. From one of the desk drawers he pulled out a bottle of whiskey, intending to drink himself into a stupor. He was halfway through the bottle when he thought about the gun in his other drawer.
The first shot went wide as his head swayed from the alcohol.
He was smarter the second time, and had the gun’s barrel firmly planted against the top of his mouth when he pulled the trigger.
“I do not see anyone,” Kusum whispered.
“Neither do I,” Sanjay said.
They were lying on the roof of the building where the boxes were hidden, scanning the streets between them and the compound.
“I think we are okay,” he said.
She slapped his shoulder. “Not okay. Why did you let him see you?”
“Because I thought it would be more fun that way.”
She slapped him again.
“We need to talk about you hitting me so much,” he said.
“What is there to talk about? If you stop doing stupid things, I will stop hitting you.”
“And you are the judge of whether the things I do are stupid or not?”
“Of course.”
He frowned. “I am not sure I am enjoying marriage so much.”
“You are enjoying it fine.” She turned on her side. “Now come here and put your arms around me.”
He snuggled into her. “We really should be going,” he said. “The sooner we can get all the boxes to where the others are, the sooner we can leave the city.”
“Soon,” she said. “But not yet.”
24
The vehicles heading south into New Mexico were lined up in the hotel parking lot, their engines running. Ash, Josie, Brandon, Chloe, Dr. Gardiner, and Ginny stood outside the lobby shaking hands and wishing everyone good luck. Rick was up in his room. According to Ginny, he was sulking about being kidnapped, but wouldn’t fight continuing on with them.
“Be safe,” Ash said to a couple of the men coming out of the hotel.
“You guys, too,” one of them said.
“Take care.”
“Same for you.”
Lily Franklin came out. “Wish you guys were coming with us,” she said.
“I hope you’re bored to death and don’t need to patch anyone up,” Ash said.
“You and me both.”
Matt came out with the last two men. “Davis and Sorrento here will be your drivers,” he said.
The two men didn’t look happy about being left out of the raid, but they nodded to Ash and Chloe.
“If you guys get going here pretty quick, you might be able to make it all the way to Salt Lake City tonight,” Matt said. “But don’t push it. Stop when you’re getting tired.”
“We’ll be fine,” Ash said.
“Anything else you need?”
Ash shook his head. “Don’t think so.”
“No,” Chloe said. “Think we’re good.”
“All right, then. I guess we’ll be off.”
Before he could turn away, Ash held out his hand. “Good luck.”
“Thanks, Captain,” Matt said, shaking it. “If we can pull this off, we all might have a chance.”
“Then I suggest you pull it off.”
After Matt had climbed into his Humvee, Ash said to Chloe, “You could have loosened up a little. At least said good-bye.”
“Yeah. I could have.”
In a mighty roar, the convoy turned onto the road toward the interstate.
As soon as the last truck disappeared onto the on-ramp, Ash said, “Ginny, get your cousin. It’s time to leave.”
Ash assigned Rick to ride in the snowplow with Davis, which seemed to suit the kid fine. The rest of them piled into the Humvee. For the first time since they’d left the Ranch, Ash took the front passenger seat.
Sorrento, a skinny guy in his late twenties, seemed to have shrugged off the disappointment of missing the main mission, and smiled as he checked to make sure everyone had a seat.
“All right. Let’s get going,” he said.
“Just a second,” Ash told him.
Sorrento paused, his hand ready to shift the truck into gear.
Ash sat motionless for a moment, running everything through his head again.
“Captain?” Sorrento said.
Ash glanced at him, and then picked up the handheld radio they were using to communicate between their two vehicles. He switched to the same band Chloe had set the radio in the plow to — one they were confident Matt would not be using — and clicked the talk button.
“Davis?” he said.
“Yes, sir,” Davis said. “Ready to go when you are.”
“I think for this first part, you just follow us,” Ash said. “If we run into any problems, you can swing around and take care of them.”
“Okay, sir. If that’s what you’d like.”
Ash looked at Sorrento. “Let’s hit it.”
Sorrento put the Humvee in gear and drove them toward the parking lot exit.
“Go left,” Ash told him.
Sorrento slowed the vehicle. “Sir?”
“Change of plans. We’re taking the interstate.”
“The exit for 160 is only a mile or so down,” Sorrento said, confused. “It’s actually quicker if we go through town.”
“We’re not taking 160.”
“We’re not? But Mr. Hamilton said—”
“I don’t care what Matt said.”
“Okay, but if you’re thinking we should go through Albuquerque and head west from there, that’s kind of the long way around.”
“We’re not going to Nevada,” Ash said. “Not yet, anyway.”
Sorrento looked completely lost now. “I’m not sure I—”
“We’re going south.”
“But Mr. Hamilton thinks we’re going to Nevada.”
“That, he does.”
The truth of Ash’s intent seemed to slowly dawn on Sorrento. Brow unfurrowing, he tilted his head back. “We’re going to follow them?”
“Now you’re getting the picture,” Ash said. “Won’t be a problem, will it?”
Sorrento eased off the brake and smiled. “Not at all, sir.”