Evenfall (171 page)

Nodding again, Boyd led them toward Andrew, who seemed relieved to see the rest of the team. Thomas and Lowe turned their heads toward each other at the sight of Ryan on the chair but they said nothing; it wasn't exactly normal procedure for Andrew and Boyd to have extracted Ryan like that.

Without them speaking, Boyd knew what they were thinking. Technically, Ryan should have been left behind like the other victims they'd found who had been unable to move, to be recovered by rescue teams. Even though they'd managed to bring him down the building without any major incidents, how were they expecting to get him safely to the bunker in such an uncertain situation with enemy fire that could rain down on them at any time? They needed access to their weapons, they needed to be unburdened.

Lowe's mouth seemed especially set in a tight line; Boyd didn't understand exactly why until he overheard Thomas say quietly into her ear, "You couldn't have done anything for her, Rachel. It was too late."

Lowe just shook her head once, an angry gesture, and stepped away from Thomas to flank one side of the chair with her gun drawn; Thomas simply drew his gun and moved to the other side without speaking again.

Ryan's complexion seemed paler by the second and this close to the lowest floors he could hardly seem to breathe. Lowe very studiously didn't look at him but there was tension in her arms and shoulders that increased with each ragged breath Ryan audibly drew in.

Boyd looked toward Andrew who just shook his head once and carefully tipped the chair backward. The two of them didn't need to speak to understand that they were each extremely concerned for Ryan's health and needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Boyd faced forward once again and grabbed the front chair legs. Ryan's legs lifelessly rocked against Boyd's sides as they walked and even through the layers of clothing he could feel the heat of his skin. He was worried that it would all be for nothing, that Ryan's illness would prove to be the death of him even if they managed to make it to the bunker unharmed.

Together, the four of them made their way as carefully and quickly out of Complex C as they could. As they headed out into the night, Boyd couldn't help but glance up at the tower which loomed in the distance; wondering silently how Sin was doing and whether or not he was okay.

===

Both tunnels ran underground between the two buildings that held the entrances and branched out at some point in the middle, leading off the compound and to whatever exit point that had been designated. The lab and Complex A led to Silver Lake Park and as far as Sin knew, the tower tunnel led to another restricted zone that was on the outskirts of the city.

They approached the branch with caution, expecting another fight as they drew closer, but there was nobody at the immediate opening and so they continued on their way. Williams asked whether or not two of them should search the exit point and see if militants were guarding that area as well but since their team was already a man short, Archer decided against such an action when they still didn’t know how hot the actual tower was.

They jogged through the tunnel quickly, silently; the only sounds were their booted feet splashing quietly in the thin layer of water that flowed above the concrete. But as they moved closer to the tower entrance, anxiety picked up and the tension was thick in the air. Once again their opponents had the high ground; once again there was a high chance of them being slaughtered before they even made it into the tower. All it would take was two enemies with sub-machine guns at the end or top of the tunnel, and the entire team could be killed before they even got a shot off. The only thing they could count on at this point was somehow gaining the element of surprise and hoping that despite the relatively small groups of intruders found outside on the compound, there wasn’t a large concentration of them inside the tower.

Sin moved ahead of the team automatically, mostly because he was faster and seemed to have better awareness of sound, but no one objected to the matter. Even though he was anything but leader material, it was generally accepted that he was the best fighter and had the best chance of surviving situations that most other people did not. He was a risk taker while most other agents put more caution into their actions; trying to change him would be a fruitless effort and so no one objected to his behavior as long as it didn’t endanger anyone else.

So he continued to run ahead, listening and looking as he waited for a sign that this would either get ugly or be really simple. There was still the possibility that agents had been the ones to block off the entrance to the tower and if that was the case, there would be no more fighting after this point.

But he didn’t think that was the case.

Not when the militants seemed to know the compound so well; not when they’d done little more in other areas than cause distractions. And certainly not when Connors, Vivienne and a large quantity of sensitive information was located in the tower.

There was no way the intruders had just bypassed it entirely.

For most of the run, nothing happened and no one got in their way but as they drew closer to the entrance, Sin’s eyes narrowed slightly as he zeroed in on the end of the tunnel. They were still a quarter mile away from the exit and although it was difficult to see that far in the darkness, even with the illumination from the goggles, he stopped abruptly as he saw the distinct forms of two men standing near the ladder.

He automatically ducked down and flattened himself against the wall, turning to look back at Archer and the rest of the team in the hopes that they would get the picture and do the same. Although it was hard to see from this distance, sounds echoed off the tunnel walls loudly and their footsteps would be a dead give-away.

Archer and Banks immediately followed his actions but Williams hesitated, staring ahead to get an idea of what Sin could be seeing so far in front of them. The hesitation and the sounds of his boots splashing, something he couldn't avoid considering he was now moving with a limp, cost them the element of surprise and a burst of gunfire exploded in their direction. Williams was thrown back from the impact and his body slammed against the side of the tunnel with a resounding thunk as he cried out in pain. Banks scrambled over to his side but continued gunfire forced her to freeze in place and pin herself tighter against the wall.

Archer scowled and glared in the direction of their attackers, unable to see clearly because of the distance that still remained. The gunfire continued sporadically and as they remained ducked down, it became obvious from the direction of the shots that the intruders were firing randomly and really did not know exactly where they were.

Banks started to sit up and move towards Williams again but Archer grabbed her arm to keep her from moving; that was what had drawn attention to them in the first place.

“How far?” he hissed to Sin, his voice barely a whisper.

“Four hundred yards, give or take,” Sin replied and fingered his Ruger as he debated the effectiveness of it in this situation.

Archer looked over at him silently for a moment but didn’t say anything and slid down into a prone position on the ground as he unhooked his rifle. Through the scope of the M24, he could easily make out the two men who were hunkered down at the far end of the tunnel. One man appeared to be talking as the other frowned in their direction and sent another burst of gunfire their way.

The bullets ricocheted around them wildly, one bouncing off the wall and slamming into Archer’s arm.  He grit his teeth violently, not making a sound even as his hands shook slightly from the pain. Another blast of gunfire echoed down the tunnel.

“Take them out,” Sin growled at him quietly. Their assailants weren’t stupid; although they couldn’t tell their exact positions, they were aiming for the spot that Williams’ scream and fall had come from. It’d only be so long before their random shots struck something vital.

Archer ignored the pain that spread through him and focused on his targets once again. Forcing his hands to remain still, he fired. One man fell and as the other began spraying bullets in their direction indiscriminately; Archer took him out as well with a clean head shot. After the resounding ring of gunshots died down, there was complete silence.

Sin stood up and looked over in the direction of Williams with a slight frown but didn't say anything. He wasn't here to tell these people what to do; that was Archer's problem now. All he cared about at the moment was keeping his promise to Boyd and getting up to Vivienne. At this point, the team was slowing him down. He was used to doing things on his own and not having to carry the weight of others; it was aggravating and that had been one of the things that he'd disliked about the idea of being with a partner before he'd actually gotten to know Boyd.

"Did it penetrate your vest?" Archer asked shortly as he got to his feet, voice gruff but not impatient with the unfortunate agent. This was the second time he'd been shot since the team had assembled and there was no doubt he was going to be left behind if the bullet had managed to hinder him any more than his leg already was.

"No," Williams grunted faintly. There was the sound of water sloshing around as he struggled to get upright. "But it still hurt like a motherfucker."

"Then get up and stop wasting time," Sin snapped, unable to keep his impatience to himself anymore. "I have an objective and if I fail it because you're taking too long splashing around in the puddles, you'll find the next bullet penetrating your skull."

There was a brief silence but no one seemed ready to argue with him or antagonize him further. Not when his voice was already darkened with a sharp undertone of danger and not when he really did make a good point.

Within the next minute they were on their way again and as they carefully climbed the ladder that led up into the basement of the Tower, surprisingly they didn't run into any more hostiles in the immediate area. Sin didn't know if that was a good or bad thing though; he didn't really know how to take anything that happened in this situation. The entire tower was full of non-combatant types on a regular basis with the exception of field agents who were briefing, debriefing or training. The situation could have already been handled by the agents inside or the hostiles could have already corralled and overpowered the defenseless employees who typically worked in the tower at this hour of the morning. Anything was possible.

As soon as they reached the main floor, the muted silence of the area disturbed him. As they spread out across the floor and the rest of the team began doing a sweep, Sin was not surprised by the number of unconscious or dead people he saw in the halls and lobbies. They appeared mostly to be field agents, trainers; he recognized David Nakamura sprawled outside the training room but didn't know if the man was unconscious or slain. Despite that, there were no hostiles present and as the team split up to find survivors and to open the main doors, Sin went his own way just as he'd said and began to sprint up the long flights of stairs.

The silence, the presence of so many dead and no killers, could either mean that the intruders had gone floor by floor decimating any threats or that they'd already finished what they'd come to do and had escaped already. If that was the case, Vivienne was most likely already dead and he'd have failed Boyd before even getting into the tower. If that was the case, who knew what sensitive material the intruders could have gotten their hands on. Who knew what the hell this event would lead to for everyone, he and Boyd included?

But something told him that it wasn't the case. Something told him that they were still here somewhere. Why else would there have still been guards at the base of the tunnel?

His feet moved automatically, skipping rows of stairs as he made his way up to the seventeenth floor and ignored the eerie muted silence that accompanied the feeling that there should have been some sign of life behind the doors he passed but that for some reason there wasn't. By the time he reached the tenth floor, suddenly the lights flickered on briefly before dying again. By the time he reached the twelfth, his goggles were off and the dim, bluish light from the backup generators flooded the staircase.

At least the tech support guys had been successful in their mission which was a damn good thing; otherwise he would have had a lot of trouble even getting onto the seventeenth floor with the keycard system down if the intruders hadn't already destroyed the door in order to get inside. When he reached the executive level he saw that the door was indeed damaged; the lock was dismantled and melted through, and he scowled darkly at what that could mean.

Sin pushed the door open slightly, slipping inside and immediately ducking down as he crept across the main lobby that separated Vivienne's area from Connor's. The silence in the area was heavy but it didn't have the same muted quality as it had downstairs; he didn't have the feeling that there were dead people in the immediate area, the feeling of a presence that no longer really had a presence. But even so, considering the state of the door it had obviously been infiltrated and he had very little hope as to what he would find. It was possible that Vivienne had been killed in her office far off in the other wing or that she'd even been kidnapped for some purpose.

His mind continued to wander down these dark avenues but as he moved closer to the hallway that led to Vivienne's wing, he heard the faint sound of speaking drifting from Connors'. His eyebrows drew together slightly and he turned, going in that direction instead, the sound growing slightly in volume as he moved closer.

When he entered the inner lobby of Connor's wing, he immediately crouched down further and pressed himself against the side of Samuel's desk, peeking around it at Connors' door. It was closed but he could distinctly recognize the sound of Connors' quiet anger, the loathing in his tone evident even if Sin could only make out a scant word here and there of what was being said. It seemed that he was arguing with a man but the other voice was too faint for Sin to understand any of what was being said. He saw shadows moving under the door and by the sound of Connors' voice, there was no doubt as to where the conversation was going to lead.

He began to move automatically, to eliminate the threat, his hands automatically tucking away the Ruger so that he could blast a hole in whoever was on the other side of the door with his shotgun but just as he started to rise... something caught his eye.

Vivienne stood pressed against an ancillary hallway
,
staring around t
he corner at Connors' door. F
or a moment he didn't think she could hear them, that she didn't know what was happening, but then her
pal
e blue eyes turned on him and the look she gave him caused him to
stop
in his tracks.

Sin had never been accustomed to reading Vivienne's expressions. It didn't happen often, but occasionally there were certain aspects that she and her son shared that made it obvious they were related. He had been around Boyd long enough to recognize certain expressions and in this moment he found that he could do the same to Vivienne.

It was an unspoken understanding that she would prefer if he stayed exactly where he was, if he pretended he didn't know what was happening behind the door.

They stared at each other silently for a tense moment and Sin's hands tightened on his weapon. Indecision plagued him and he closed his eyes briefly, trying to decide what to do, what he was supposed to do, but in the end it was the sound of Connors' voice that made the decision for him.

The sound of that low voice, so heavy with disdain, so sure of itself, made something in Sin's head click. In that brief moment flashbacks raced through his mind; he saw all the things that Connors had done to him, all the things that he'd said to him... all the threats regarding his freedom, his partnership with Boyd, the looming question over both of their lives now that the Monterrey mess was finally cleaned up...