He tried to rise, but the injury to his abdomen was too severe.
There were flashes of light, and then his eyelids closed.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Philippe had been deep in prayer when the sound of gunfire reached his ears. It wasn’t a sound he wanted to hear. Lifting his head, he looked toward the windows of the building across the street. He saw flashes of red inside, the discharge from the muzzles of guns, and then also the movements of figures inside the room.
A number of questions flashed through his mind: Were the Americans launching an attack? If so, would they be successful, or were there too many bad guys? And if there were indeed too many bad guys, should he do something to help? Philippe was not a man of violence, and he was unarmed anyway. But there were other ways to help besides the use of force, so he began to make his way over to the building.
Deciding to take one last look, Philippe aimed the monocular at the window where he had seen the flashes of gunfire. As everything came into focus, he saw two figures slam up against the window — a woman with shoulder-length hair, and a man. They were wrestling, and it looked as though the woman was holding the man so strongly that he couldn’t get away. As Philippe watched the man try to squirm free, a blinding flash came out of the two bodies. The light was bright, like that of a welder’s torch, and it was followed one second later by the roar of an explosive blast.
Philippe watched in horror as the glass blew outward and a plume of fiery smoke billowed up into the air. He knew that both of the people who had been struggling had left this world, and sadness gripped him. There had to be other people in the room who would need help, so he decided to leave at once.
But when he rose to his feet, the unthinkable happened — a second explosion took place, this one much more powerful than the first. As Philippe looked on, a giant red fireball rippled upwards into the night sky.
Although it was hard to see through all the intervening smoke from the first explosion, Philippe believed the second blast had taken place in one of the other buildings, perhaps the next one down. But what had caused it? He doubted the Americans had any explosives with that kind of firepower, so he made an assumption that it had something to do with the collider. He just hoped his friends weren’t anywhere near. The thought of what might have happened to them if they were made him physically sick.
As Philippe was about to turn toward the stairs, a voice in his spirit told him to stop and look again. As he did, his eyes were drawn to the distant smoke. The funnel cloud was still there, spinning above the point of the second explosion. In some strange way, the two things seemed connected.
Raising the monocular to his right eye, Philippe turned the focus wheel to adjust for the greater distance. After staring for a moment, he felt a chill creep over his body. There were several figures twisting in the funnel cloud itself, their grotesque shapes illuminated by the glow of the fire that raged below. They seemed caught up in a macabre dance as they descended down into the building below. They were large creatures, probably two to three times the height of a man, and possessed heads of an odd shape that seemed vaguely familiar.
“My Heavenly Father,” Philippe whispered, mesmerized by the scene. “Surely this can’t be true.” And yet he knew it was.
Realizing the others were now facing a danger they weren’t equipped to deal with, Philippe turned and ran toward the stairwell. Just as he arrived, he heard a strange wail that seemed to come out of the sky. He stopped, unable to move. Words couldn’t begin to describe the noise that met his ears.
At this point he knew only one thing, it was not of this world.
Philippe took the stairs, moving faster than he ever had in his life.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
When the blast came, it was surprisingly loud. Zane exited into the corridor at the same time as Reid and Skinner, and all three burst through the doors and into the lobby. As they entered, Zane realized they couldn’t have asked for a better setup. Four Renaissance guards were making their way into the control room, leaving their backs exposed. In addition, the room was filled with smoke, providing some level of cover to the Delphi operatives.
One of the guards heard the operatives enter and shouted a warning to the others, who turned around and began to fire. As their bullets chewed through the walls around the lobby, Zane dropped to one knee and brought his Glock up with two hands, aiming it at the one who had given the alarm. The red laser sight bobbed around in the thick smoke until it settled on his forehead. Zane squeezed the trigger twice, and the man fell backwards, his rifle firing harmlessly into the ceiling as the life drained from his body.
Skinner likewise took down the next man over, leaving Reid to engage the final two on the right. Reid fired once at the man on the right, and then swung the gun to the left and fired again at the next man over. The first man fell backwards, his rifle flying up into the air. He was dead before he hit the ground. The second man took evasive action by rolling along the floor, causing Reid’s shot to sail harmlessly by. The guard brought his weapon up in one smooth motion and began to fire. One of the bullets found Reid’s leg, and the operative fell to the ground, writhing.
Zane saw that the Renaissance guard was up on one knee, aiming his rifle at Reid’s head. A moment later there was a soft spitting sound and then a grunt. The guard teetered for a few seconds and then fell over, a pool of crimson spreading away from his head. Zane turned and saw Skinner standing there in the smoke, his gun still raised. Had he waited another second or two then Reid might now be dead.
When Zane arrived at Reid’s side, he found the bullet hole in a pant leg and ripped it open. Fortunately the round had simply grazed his calf muscle, so Reid waved off any further help.
Leaping over the bodies, Zane led Skinner and a hobbling Reid over to the entrance to the control room. As he opened the door, a second explosion sounded from somewhere behind them, this one so powerful that the whole building shook.
Unfortunately there wasn’t time to ponder the source of the second blast, so Zane entered the room. The smoke was even thicker inside, and combined with the darkness, it was almost impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction. As they stood there trying to get their bearings, two shots rang out, with one of the bullets buzzing overhead.
“Zane!” someone shouted to his right. “Over here.”
Turning, he saw Carmen standing behind the wall of a cubicle, holding a rifle. He signaled the others to follow him over to her position. When he got close, he was shocked to see Amanda on her knees behind the Italian. She was also holding a rifle.
“No time to explain,” Carmen said. “She twisted her ankle pretty bad but is going to be fine.”
The cough of gunfire continued, prompting Carmen to pop up over the wall of the cubicle and fire several shots toward the window. Zane realized that some of Mironov’s men must have survived the blast and were gathered there. After ducking back down, Carmen said, “Good thing you have long hair, or I might have shot you.”
Zane asked Reid and Skinner to set up in a defensive position in case the Renaissance goons tried to cross the room and use the smoke as cover to make an attack. He then turned to Carmen. “Where is VanGelder?”
“He was inside this cubicle along with Mironov and Marrese.” She patted the wall next to her. “This is where they were controlling the collider. I tried to go in and look but came under fire. I couldn’t risk getting hurt or killed and leaving Amanda to fend for herself.”