Her blood was still on his face and coat. How could he go on like nothing had happened?
“Oh damn,” the hologram said, waving a hand at the huge monitor above the
console. “I found the Apostle.”
Looking to the monitor, Gabriel saw a dark figure striding purposefully down a hallway, her cloak flaring behind her with the hood pulled back up to cover her head.
She held her black-bladed sword in one hand and was surrounded by about twenty black-uniformed men carrying rifles. She was not a prisoner.
“What the hell,” Gabriel said. “Are they working for her?”
“They have turned off their communicators and tracking beacons,” Allie said.
“I think it is safe to say that they serve the Apostle now,” the hologram added.
“Where are they headed,” Gabriel asked. “What are they doing?”
“I have another squad with beacons and communicators turned off,” the hologram said. The image split, showing another group running through a hallway. “They are headed in this direction.”
“The Apostle knows where we are? But how?”
“More likely, they are coming for the mainframe. The other group appears to be headed for the accessway that leads to the containment area.”
“She’s taking control of the facility,” Gabriel said.
“Oh, that is really not good,” the hologram cried
“What is it?”
“I have been locked out of most systems. I am unable to activate the security systems or sound an intruder alarm. I have never seen an encryption this complicated before!”
“Well that’s just great,” Gabriel muttered.
“I suggest that you get moving immediately,” Allie nodded to the door. “We do not want to be here when they arrive. You need to hurry to the containment area before the Apostle can do anything to hinder our plans.”
Nodding, Gabriel looked to the hologram. “Do whatever you can to slow them
down and break through that encryption.”
The hologram winked at him. “Way ahead of you. Go. Hurry. You may not
have much time to spare.”
Chapter 39: Firefight
Running in a mad dash, Gabriel flew through hallways after Allie, who always
kept ahead of him no matter how fast he ran. He’d been doing an awful lot of running lately, and he was grateful for the vanity that had led to his morning jogging.
A lawyer’s appearance was one of his greatest weapons. The clean, fit, well-
groomed lawyer, who appears confidant, will always sway a jury more than one who is disheveled, obese, and nervous. Court cases were like duels where, rather than using swords, knives or guns, the weapons were self-image, sharp wit, and a silver tongue.
Sometimes it could get as exciting and fierce as a real duel with actual weapons.
As he ran at top speed, Gabriel wished he could go back to the duels that he knew.
There was no one better than he when it came to questioning witnesses and convincing juries. He had never lost a duel in his life. There was a sense of strategy, and grappling with your opponent in subtle, unseen ways, much like a good game of chess. And most importantly, no one died. His life was never in danger when he dueled with another lawyer.
Waiting somewhere ahead of him was a fight with the Apostle, and blood would
spill, likely his. He knew he wasn’t lucky enough to avoid her completely until the completion of his mission. Call it karma, or divine retribution, but Gabriel felt that whatever happened to him when he faced her, that justice would be served. If he survived, perhaps it meant that god could forgive what he’d done to poor little Allison. If he died, it was little more than he deserved.
He’d become a lawyer to change a world where bullies got away with torturing
those that were smaller and weaker than them. Somewhere along the way he’d forgotten justice for fame. Lies, twisted words, deception and trickery had been his weapons. He would meet the Apostle with none of these, and he’d kill her if he could, because she was too dangerous to be left alive. If he died in the attempt he’d accept it as atonement for killing Allison.
Though depression and anger gnawed away at his insides, Gabriel pushed them
away and focused on the task at hand. He had to reach the Containment Area before the Apostle did, and he was not going to let anything get in his way, including his own self-loathing. It was a trick he’d learned as a child, pushing away everything bad in his life just to get through another day. It made him feel empty and hollow inside, like a soulless automaton, but better that than the pain and the guilt. When he pretended there was nothing wrong it felt as though nothing could stand in his way.
Except maybe the armed squad of soldiers hiding behind a barricade blocking off the entire hallway ahead with an intense firefight going on above their heads. He’d been so intent on his reflections that he hadn’t even noticed the deafening thunder of continuous gunfire.
Several desks had been dragged from nearby offices for the soldiers to use as
cover while they fired fully automatic rifles in short bursts. The sound was deafening in the nearly enclosed space. The explosions of gunfire and the whine of ricochets drowned out nearly everything else.
The floor behind and in front of the barricade was littered with bodies, and blood was splattered and pooling everywhere. The air was filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder, and death.
Ducking, Gabriel raised a hand to hold his hat on as a bullet whined so close to his face he actually felt the wind of it.
Everyone was shouting at once, but Gabriel couldn’t hear a single thing over the gunfire. Though their mouths moved, and he could read curses on their lips, no voices reached him.
“What now,” he muttered.
“Look to your right,” Allie said clearly over the noise without raising her voice.
Turning, Gabriel found an open office door with a steady stream of soldiers
running in and out like crazed animals, keeping their heads down to avoid having them shot off.
“You will probably find the one in charge hiding in there,” Allie said.
“Great thinking,” Gabriel drew both of his pistols. It felt strangely good to have them both in his possession again.
Creeping toward the office, trying not to be noticed, Gabriel ducked inside finding himself face to face with Henry, the man who had questioned him earlier. He appeared to have been sidetracked in searching for implements of torture. His bushy eyebrows shot up in surprise, as Gabriel scanned the rest of the room to find several other soldiers pouring over holographic maps and schematics, while others shouted orders into communication devices.
“Shoot this man at once,” Henry shouted, jabbing a finger toward Gabriel.
Naturally, with seven or eight men ready to fill him full of lead, Gabriel did the only thing that seemed sane. He lunged forward and shoved the barrels of both pistols into the face of the one giving the orders, Henry himself.
Everyone froze.
The racket of the firefight just outside the door seemed distant, quiet, and
unimportant.
Giving his most winning smile, Gabriel pulled back the hammers on each of his
pistols until they locked. Their clicks echoed through the stillness. Feeling the eyes of every man in the room boring into him, he scanned their faces from the corners of his eyes. By their frightened expressions, he thought that they’d open fire in a second if they could get a clear shot.
“Hi Henry,” Gabriel said brightly. “I’m just here to talk, so how about you order your men to lower their weapons. Then I won’t have to shoot you and try to escape before they shoot me, and we can have a nice little chat with no one pointing guns at anyone. Deal?”