Fast (66 page)

            Keeping low, she scrambled to the edge of her workstation and prepared to sneak a peek around the corner. The workstation stopped at the plexiglass door.

           
Is this plexiglass bulletproof?
It had never occurred to her that it needed to be.
No one’s shooting at me yet. Take a look.

            She reached the end of the workstation and ducked her head around the corner. Two dead terrorists lay near the north hatch. Forest was sprinting from their bodies, then diving behind the scuba trolley as bullets tore up the wall behind him.

            Vanessa pulled back into concealment. Forest had surprised two gunmen, and then been surprised himself by more gunmen from the south.

            That was close. They almost had him before he reached cover.

            She looked back along the workstation to her computer. The computer screen suddenly started flashing a new message:

            Model Complete…

            Model Complete…

            Model Complete…

            Her eyes widened. This was it. The answer was there waiting for her. She just needed a few more seconds at the computer, and then she might have a way to help David!

            But right now she couldn’t even get to the computer, which was in plain sight of the pool room. She didn’t want to find out the hard way if the plexiglass barrier was bulletproof.

            But I will if I have to. I have to get the answers. I need to get up, download the results to my tablet, and then…what’s that sound?

            She took another look and saw a dozen punctured scuba tanks releasing their contents.

            Then she saw the creature.

            Oh no.
The creature came through the hatch and paused. It didn’t take a genius to see Forest was double-dipped in deep shit. If he moved from cover, he’d be shot. But his
cover
itself was about to attract the worst kind of attention.

            The creature only paused for a second. Then it charged straight towards the Marine.

            Vanessa leapt up and bashed her fists on the plexiglass barrier.

            ‘HEY-HEY-HEY,’ she hollered, pounding her fists on the plexiglass like an insane ice hockey spectator.

            Her plan worked too well.

            A second creature appeared through the north hatch and launched itself towards her piece of plexiglass.

            ‘Oh, crap,’ she said, backing from the plexiglass.
I’ve attracted another one!

            The creature smacked its head straight into the plexiglass. Vanessa heard the material start cracking away from the ceiling.

            Across the pool room, she saw the first creature plough into the scuba trolley, and then the trolley started tipping onto Forest….

#

King stalked the two gunmen.

            The gunmen had become separated from Bora’s party. Now they were looking for a way to reach the diving arena.

            Stragglers from the pack are fair game.

            King intended to ensure they never reached the diving arena. He followed them through two rooms and a corridor, waiting for the opportunity for two clean head shots. Taking his boots off had been a good idea. It had made it easier to follow the gunmen quietly. He’d also removed his body armor. It was useless against the super-bullets, and he could move more freely without it. As he entered the room behind them, the men listened at the next hatch.

            They kept perfectly still, intent on detecting any danger beyond the hatch.

            King saw his chance. No obstacles blocked his line of fire. The entire room was filled with plants on transparent shelves. The shelves lined every wall. It looked like some kind of seedling bank.
I might not get this opportunity again.

            He raised his pistol.

            The man on the right cycled the hatch.

            King sighted on the man’s skull.

            The gunman cracked the hatch a fraction, then suddenly shouted and locked his knees, throwing his full weight against the hatch. Water surged around the partially open hatch. The man repositioned his legs and braced himself, straining for traction on the floor and using all his strength to wrestle against the oval door.

            It proved too much for him. Knee-high white water forced the aperture open. The second gunman shouldered his weapon and threw his own body weight into the struggle.

            King couldn’t have had a better target. His training told him what he should do. He should take them down as quickly and efficiently as the situation allowed.

            But he didn’t do that.

            He holstered his pistol and stood for a moment, watching the men winning the fight against the door an inch at a time.

            This is for Marlin.

            He crossed the room like a wraith, drawing closer to their backs, feeling the water swell around his ankles. He stopped behind the men like he was waiting for his turn to pass through the hatch.

            The men gave one last desperate shove and then cycled the hatch shut. They stood panting for a moment, leaning on the hatch. Then the one on the right turned around to find the hulking figure of King waiting an arm’s length away.

            King stood a head taller than both of them.

            The man chocked out a surprised cry and grabbed for his dangling assault rifle.

            King attacked the moment he made eye-contact. He lunged forward and wrapped his hands around the man’s head. Using his full body weight, he smashed the man’s head into the hatch. Skull collided with unforgiving steel. King felt the man’s body go limp from the neck down. It wasn’t enough to kill him. King wasn’t ready to kill him yet.

            As the man’s head bounced off the steel, King twisted to his left and smashed the point of his elbow straight into the second terrorist’s surprised face. The man’s right eye-socket collapsed. The force sent him careening away from the hatch, lurching out with his arms for balance.

            King snatched the man’s left wrist from it flailing path through the air. He cupped the man’s elbow with the other hand and twisted savagely. The torque transferred right up the man’s arm, twisting his entire body under King’s grasp. The shoulder popped free of its socket.

            As the terrorist screamed, King swept through with his right foot, knocking the man’s feet out from under him. The terrorist thumped down onto his back in the water. As he tried to stand, King stomped his foot on the man’s throat.

            Barefoot, King felt the honeycomb crunch of the man’s trachea collapsing.

            King turned slowly, deliberately, to his right, drawing his pistol and facing the first gunman side on. The man struggled to his feet, shaking off the effects of his head ramming the hatch. He searched groggily for his target.

            King fired three times. Shoulder, stomach, chest. The third shot emptied the pistol and ended the terrorist.

            He holstered his pistol and listened. What he heard, instead of the sound of approaching creatures, was the
click
of the hatch behind him closing. King had just used that hatch to surprise the terrorists.

           
I’ve been followed.

            The irony wasn’t lost on King. He turned to discover who hunted the hunter.

            Krisko Borivoj stood just inside the hatch.

            Bora stepped into the room, smirking at King. He cocked one eyebrow at the two dead men. ‘Been busy?’

            King didn’t answer. He scanned Bora for weapons.
He’s unarmed. He’s out of ammunition, just like me. This is going to be hand-to-hand unless one of us can reach the men’s assault rifles first.

            King knew that turning his back on an enemy like Bora, even to retrieve a weapon, would be a fatal mistake. Bora looked big like a weight-lifter, not a body builder. His every move announced a massive core of strength. And Bora’s body-language said he knew all about the rifles lying just submerged under the blood-clouding water.

            Bora likewise scanned King. He took a controlled step forward, ready for anything. ‘I’ve been looking for you. It’s good to finally meet on our own like this.’

            King couldn’t help himself. ‘Well now you’ve found me, fucker.’

            Bora smiled a deadly smile. ‘Now I’ve found you. So who the hell are you? What’s your name, Marine?’

           
What’s my name?
The truth suddenly occurred to King.
He really means he’s been looking for
me
. Why? Of course - the stunt when I threw the chair. He was leading the party that got trapped in the movie cinema. He’s taking this personally.

            Bora nodded as though reading King’s mind. ‘That’s right. I don’t care if I don’t get out alive. As long as you don’t either. I’ve been looking forward to this.’

            ‘How’d you escape the cinema?’ asked King, genuinely interested.

            Bora nodded his chin at the two dead gunmen. ‘The hard way. Your first mistake was throwing that chair. You’re going to pay for that.’

            King replied evenly, ‘
Your
first mistake was closing that hatch behind you. Now you’re in my world. These two were just for warm up.’

            King was done with tough talking.
I don’t have time for this. My orders are to distract the terrorists and then get back to the diving arena. I should be back there already.

           
He had to take Bora down quickly.

            King feinted to the left, pretending to lunge at a submerged rifle, but then recovered as Bora committed to an interception. With that simple maneuver, King had Bora off balance.

            Or he thought he had.

            Bora’s right fist was a blur, a stunning uppercut that lifted King off his feet. King slammed down full length backwards into the water.

            Damn it, that was a hard hit.

            King had never been punched so hard or so fast in all his life. He’d bitten his tongue. He was amazed at Bora’s speed. He shook off the punch-haze and got to his feet.
Lucky shot. I’m gonna take this son-of-a-bitch down.

            Bora hadn’t even moved in to take advantage of King’s prone position. As King rose to his feet, tasting the blood pooling under his tongue, Bora massaged the knuckles on his right hand.

            ‘What else you got?’ he taunted. ‘Let’s see some of that Special Forces training. Come on, I know you’ve got it in you?’ Bora’s sarcastic tone equated ‘Special Forces’ with ‘weak pussy’. He pointed at the two dead gunmen. ‘Or are you only good at sneaking up on people from behind?’

            King lunged out with a fast left fist. He caught nothing but air. Bora dodged lightly from the blow and then came back with a left-right combination that had King’s head spinning. Before Bora could follow through, King turned on his hip and shot out a powerful side-kick.