“Holy shit!” Chen gasped from the nearby shore. “That was unbelievable.”
“Not really. I practice that move in my swimming pool all the time.”
“Seriously, that was awesome!”
But Payne shrugged off the praise. After all, Chen was there to do him a favor. “Are you hurt? Can you make it back up the plank?”
“Doubtful, sir. I messed up my knee pretty bad when I landed.”
Payne nodded as he scouted the waist-deep water for more crocs. Thankfully, the others huddled lazily on the opposite shore. “But you’ll live, won’t you? I mean, I shouldn’t just leave you here as an entrée, right?”
Chen smiled through his pain. “No, sir. I don’t think I’d like that very much.”
“Good, then let’s figure a way to get you out of-”
Before he could finish, a second explosion ripped through the house, one that lit the surrounding sky with a massive ball of flame and hurled chunks of wood and metal high into the air. To escape the falling debris, Payne shoved Chen under the lip of the concrete ledge and sheltered him with his own body while waiting for things to calm down.
JONES
covered his head as another blast shook the earth but refused to take his eyes off the enemy. They had settled behind a rock formation near the escape tunnel, and he figured they’d stay there as long as there were more charges to detonate. At least he hoped that was the case, because while they sat on their asses watching the fireworks, his team was moving in to finish them off.
A static-filled message trickled over Jones’s radio, but he was unable to make out the voice.
“You’re breaking up,” Jones shouted into his mouthpiece. “Repeat.”
There was a slight delay. “This . . . Payne. Can . . . me?”
“Jon?” He cupped his hand over his earpiece so he could hear better. “Is that you?”
“Of course . . . me! I can’t . . . you’ve already forgotten . . . fucking voice!”
Jones was thrilled that Payne was bitching at him. That was his way of saying that he was fine. “Where are you, man? I was told you got caught up in the pyrotechnics.”
“I did. Thankfully, Chen and . . . were . . . the moat during . . . big blast. The concrete shielded . . . getting hurt.”
Jones did his best to make out the words, but the tumult and the static made it difficult. “Are you hurt? Do you need me to get you out?”
“. . . banged up, but I’m . . .” Dead air filled the line for a few seconds before Payne’s voice could be heard again. “. . . word on Ariane?”
“We’re still not sure where she is. Shell called in and claimed he could see a female with the Posse, but that report is unconfirmed. Repeat, that is unconfirmed.”
“. . . about . . . oska . . . Haney?”
“No word from Kokoska or Haney. But we aren’t giving up hope. Those two have been through worse.”
Several more seconds passed before Jones could hear him again, and when he could, Payne was in the middle of a long message. “. . . is a hole up . . . it might be . . . way into . . . I’m going to . . . Chen . . . it out.”
“Jon,” he shouted, “you’re breaking up. I can’t understand you. Please repeat.”
“. . . hole . . . moat . . . a way into the . . .”
Unfortunately, nothing but static came across the line.
PAYNE
wasn’t sure if his message had gotten through, but he realized he couldn’t waste any more time on the radio trying to find out. He and Chen were currently sitting ducks, and he knew if they stayed put, it was just a matter of time before something-an explosion, a crocodile, or an enemy soldier-took them out.
“I know you’re banged up, but how does a long walk sound to you?”
Chen looked at Payne in the flickering firelight and grimaced. “You tell me, sir. How does a long walk sound?”
“It’s just what the doctor ordered.” Payne slipped his good arm around Chen’s waist and helped him to his feet. “Don’t get any wrong ideas. This isn’t going to be a romantic stroll. That last blast opened a fissure in the wall, and I’m hoping it’ll lead somewhere safe.”
The duo trudged through the waist-deep stream for several yards while keeping a constant eye out for crocs. Luckily, the giant reptiles were just as uninterested in a skirmish as the MANIACs were, and they did their best to stay far out of the humans’ way.
“Okay,” Payne said once they had arrived at the crevice. “Let me check things out before we get you in there. Will you be all right for a few minutes on your own?”
Chen nodded as he slumped to the ground, exhausted.
“Just holler if something starts to eat you.”
“Don’t worry, I think that’s probably the natural reaction.”
Payne grinned as he checked his weapon then leaned inside the cavelike opening, which extended from water level to nearly three feet above his head. The darkness of the interior prevented him from seeing much, so he was forced to use one of the chemical torches that he carried in his belt. After breaking the cylinder’s inner seal, he gave the liquids a quick shake, and the phosphorescent mixture filled the man-made grotto with enough light to read a newspaper.
“I’ll be right back,” he told Chen. “Don’t go anywhere.”
By using the green glow of the high-tech lantern, Payne was able to figure out what he had stumbled upon. It was the tunnel that the Posse had used for their escape. The cylindrical shaft started somewhere to his right, deep within the bowels of Kotto’s basement, and continued to his left, ending somewhere outside the fence on the western flank of the estate. Or at least it used to. Due to all the recent explosions, Payne had no idea if the route was still passable. He hoped it was, since he and Chen were looking for a way out of the moat, but he realized he wouldn’t know for sure until he explored the mysteries that lay farther ahead.
CHAPTER 63
HOLMES
and Greene laughed with childlike enthusiasm as the first few explosions tore through the house. In their minds every blast meant a few less soldiers that they’d have to deal with, and if the second part of their plan was going to be successful, they had to keep the number of MANIACs to an absolute minimum.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Drake wondered from his position on the ground. “If these troops are as skilled as you claim, will they really be fooled by something so simple?”
The comment knocked the smile off Holmes’s face. He had known Edwin Drake for less than a few hours but had learned to despise the man. “I’ll tell you what, Eddie. If you don’t want to participate in phase two of my plan, you can take off your cloak and start walking. It won’t make a damn bit a difference to me.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” he insisted. “But-”
“But what? You call my plan
foolish
, then claim you didn’t mean to offend me? Fuck that, and fuck you! If you keep it up, I’ll put a bullet in your ass myself.”
The smile on Greene’s face got even wider because he disliked Drake as well. “So what’s it gonna be? Are you in or out? We gotta know now.”
Drake glanced at Kotto for some moral support, but none was forthcoming. Kotto had just watched his house detonated for the sake of the plan, so he wasn’t about to give up on Holmes and Greene’s idea anytime soon.
“Fine,” Drake relented. “What would you like me to do?”