Immortal (30 page)

“I’ve got nothing. Try it again.” She stepped
aside, and Jericho stepped back to the panel and began to try
again. “Jonah.” She motioned for him to come to her.

“What’s next? Amelia looks pretty convincing
over there.” He nodded behind him.

“See the stack over there, on the this side
of the tunnel?” He nodded. “Position yourself behind it, and keep
your eyes open. They’ll survey the area before we’ll ever able to
see them. You may be our only chance to hold them off.”

“Gabby?” He asked, as she began to walk
away.

“Yeah.” She stopped and turned.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know the code.” He said.
She smiled.

“But you knew where the door was. I know that
Jericho will be able to get it open. I just hope it will be in
time.” She said, and turned and walked back over to the control
panel. She stepped up behind Jericho, and was careful to leave him
room, as he frantically continued to work on the correct
sequence.

In the tunnel, Roger had blindly followed
Charles, but now he could see the opening for himself. It had
seemed like forever that they had walked in the darkness, but now
that he could see, he was done with following.

“Run up ahead.” He said to Charles. “I’ll lie
back and be ready to ambush them.”

“But, sir… I don’t have my weapon.” Charles
said hesitantly.

“And whose fault is that, Charles.” Roger
said, and pushed him ahead. Charles stumbled a couple of steps, and
then caught his balance. He stopped, turned back to look at Roger,
but could not see him in the darkness. He straightened his posture,
turned back, and began to walk ahead. Roger edged to the side of
the tunnel, and slowly walked forward.

From his position behind the stack of boxes,
Jonah saw Charles vaguely at first, and then very clearly, as he
walked out of the center of the tunnel. He held his weapon firmly,
as he pointed at the figure as it emerged. He tried to continue to
breathe slowly, but his heart raced. He gave a short whistle.
Gabrielle turned and saw the figure as it exited the tunnel.
Charles took in the scene of destruction. He scanned the room, and
saw Gabrielle and Jericho at the control panel.

“That’s far enough!” She yelled. Charles
stopped, his hands at his side.

“I’m the Chancellor.” He said. “I’m here to
help you.”

“Help?” Gabrielle asked sarcastically. “I
don’t think we need any more of your help.”

“Miss. I truly am here to help. There’s been
a misunderstanding, I assure you.”

“Misunderstanding? Are you kidding?”
Gabrielle stepped down from the ledge near the door. “How can you
even stand there and let those lies pour out of your mouth. What
kind of man are you? Are you even human?”

“Oh, I am quite human.” Charles replied.
Gabrielle raised her gun.

“Maybe we should find out.” She said. She
shifted her aim to the right, and fired. The stack closest to him
exploded. Charles dropped to the ground, rolled, and came up on all
fours. He looked at her expectantly.

“There’s no need for that.” He said from his
crouch.

“Well how about this!” She said, as she swung
her arms back towards him, and leveled her gun.

Roger flinched when the female specimen had
fired. His eyes closed tight. He thought sure that Charles had been
killed, and felt rage when he opened his eyes and saw the bastard
still alive.

“I’ll just have to kill you myself.” He said
as he moved up into the tunnel further. The girl had moved away
from the wall and he could see her clearly now. A couple of more
steps, and he would have a clean line of sight to take her out. He
knelt down, raised his gun, and rested it on his arm. He could see
the outline of the gun sight, and slowed his breathing as he
watched the upright bar of the front sight sway in between the
frame of the rear sight. One shot could end this, he thought, as he
gradually increased the pressure on the trigger. The flash was
sudden, and in the darkness it was blinding. The boom echoed
through the tunnel, as he blinked, and eagerly tried to clear his
vision and see the results of his shot.

Gabrielle instinctively dropped to a crouch
at the sound of the explosion, as she heard the bullet whiz past.
It ricocheted off of the door behind her. She had seen the flash
from the tunnel, and quickly returned fire. Bright flashes also
erupted from Jonah’s position. Explosions rocked the tunnel, with
flashes of blue that sparked up the walls. Gabrielle fired again
and again, as fast as she could, and saw explosion after explosion
in the tunnel. She noted that the man that had called himself the
Chancellor had dove for cover with the first shot.

“Gabby!” Jericho said from behind her. “I
need you!” She fired again, then turned and ran back up to
Jericho.

“What?” she asked.

“Try it now. Hurry.” He said. She laid her
hand over the panel, and tried to block out the repeated explosions
that came from the tunnel. She knew that Jonah had whoever was
there pinned down.

Charles landed awkwardly on his side, and it
knocked the breath out of him. He rolled to his back, and stared at
the ceiling of the cavern, as he tried to make his lungs work. He
was thankful that he had made it behind the cover of the closest
stack. Then he heard the unmistakable gunshots from Roger’s
handgun, three in quick succession. With every ounce of strength he
had, he rolled back over and came to a crouch.

Jonah felt, rather than heard the bullets
striking the boxes just above his head, and quickly aimed for the
flashes of light from the tunnel. He pulled the trigger on the
small metallic gun, saw the flash from the muzzle and there was
another explosion in the tunnel.

Amelia closed her eyes even tighter as she
lay on the floor beneath the confusion of boxes. With every
explosion, she couldn’t help but tense. She had closed her hands
into fists, but still felt them shake uncontrollably.

Jericho took the gun from Gabrielle, and
edged towards Jonah’s position. He heard the rapid fire shots from
the tunnel, and partially saw Jonah’s return fire. He crouched, and
came up on the other side of Jonah’s hiding place, and fired two
quick bursts.

Roger had rolled to his right after his last
shot, as he anticipated the return fire, but was not prepared for
the intensity of the explosions. The last had peppered him with
shrapnel from the tunnel wall. He could feel the blood as it ran
from his temple, but was too afraid to move, or even to wipe it
away.

Gabrielle heard nothing, as her hand hovered
above the control panel, and though at first there was nothing, now
she felt something. She began to see the sequence illuminated in
her mind on the keypad. With a shaky hand, she very carefully began
to key in the sequence that she saw. She punched the first button,
hesitated, then the second, paused and then the third. The panel
turned green. There was a loud clank, then a groan. The door
separated in the middle, and the sides began to slide apart with a
great groaning sound that vibrated the whole cavern. Brilliant
beams of light shone into the cavern.

“Jericho!” She yelled. He fired again into
the tunnel, and then turned to see the huge panels of the door
slide apart, and a great shaft of light stabbed into the room. His
face lit up with amazement.

“Hey, Jonah!” He yelled. “Let’s go!” He
didn’t wait for a response, as he turned and ran for the door.
Jonah, also fired a last shot. Then jumped up from behind the stack
he had used for cover, and ran towards the door. Gabrielle
approached the door with caution, as her eyes blinked from the
brightness. She approached the opening, and paused and looked back
at Jericho. She stepped through and disappeared into the light.
Jericho ran through, without hesitation. Jonah, brought up the
rear, and ran as fast as he could. His heart beat so powerfully
that the sound pounded in his head. He approached the opening. With
his left foot already through the opening, he glanced back towards
the tunnel and saw Roger standing in the open. He saw his face
covered in blood, and then realized that Roger aimed directly at
him. He felt the dull thud that hit his shoulder just as he passed
through the doorway and lost his balance, as the gunshot echoed in
the room behind him. He flipped to the side, and slammed onto the
hard ground. His gun clattered away. Suddenly the sensation of
dullness in his shoulder flashed into hot searing pain.

“Jonah!” Yelled Jericho, as he saw him fall.
He ran back to him.

“My shoulder.” Jonah managed to grunt.
Jericho saw the blood as it poured from the ragged exit wound.
Gabrielle ran up beside him.

“Here.” She said, as she ripped part of her
shirt loose. “Use this.”

“Leave me.” Jonah managed to get out. Jericho
grabbed the fabric strip from Gabrielle and began to wrap it
furiously around the wound. “Just get out of here. Forget me.”
Jonah said, as he winced through the pain. Gabrielle picked up his
fallen gun, and stepped back up to the open doorway, and fired both
guns blindly inside. Roger dove for cover.

The stack right in front of Charles exploded
with such violence that he was thrown backwards against the stack
behind him. He hit hard, then slumped to the floor. He was awake
but shaken.

“I’m getting too old for this bullshit.” He
grunted to himself. He climbed back up to his feet, and rushed for
cover behind the next stack.

“Charles!” Came Roger’s voice from the other
side of the room.

“I’m okay!” Charles yelled back.

“I didn’t ask if you were okay, you idiot.
After them!” He yelled, as he stepped from behind the stack, and
fired towards the door, the glistening handgun rocked back in his
hand as it fired. The ejected shell clattered to the ground.

“I don’t have a weapon.” Charles said, as he
ran across the room towards him.

“You think I care?” He said, and pointed his
gun at Charles’s head. “If you let them get away again, I’ll kill
you where you stand.” Charles looked at the Premier with disbelief,
uncertain of how serious he may be. “Move, damn it!” Another moment
of hesitation, then Charles reluctantly turned and ran towards the
door. He cautiously glanced through, and saw the two specimens as
they drug an injured man around the corner of the building. Just
before she disappeared from sight, Gabrielle turned and fired a
volley back at the door. Charles dove away, as the great metal
doors exploded inward. They bent awkwardly in their frame, but held
fast. As Charles slowly lifted his head, he could see that the
explosion had knocked Roger to the ground, and he wrestled to get
back up. Then he heard a new sound. An unexpected sound. The sound
of a woman.

“Help me!” The voice yelled, and suddenly he
remembered Amelia.

“Amelia!” He yelled. “Where are you?” He
scanned the room, stack after stack of destruction, and then saw
her hand feebly as it waived from behind some of the debris. He ran
to her. He ignored the danger from the opening in what was left of
the mangled doorway. She lay on her back, her legs twisted
awkwardly behind her. There was dirt on her face and tunic. “Are
you hurt?” He asked, as he bent down.

“I’m not sure.” She said weakly, as she began
to try to straighten her leg. She suddenly howled in pain and
grabbed her leg. She closed her eyes tight and squinted.

“Here.” He said. “Let me help.” He began to
carefully help her straighten her leg. She continued to squint, and
yelled again as it straightened out. She knew that if he did not
believe she was injured, she could be in danger. He gradually
helped her to her feet, and helped her to hobble from around the
debris. Roger approached them, as blood still streamed from a gash
in his scalp. He ignored it. “She’s hurt.” Charles said, as he also
ignored Roger’s bloody face, and helped her stumble to her feet.
She leaned against Charles, his arm around her as he helped to
support her.

“You’re injured, sir.” She said as she looked
up at Roger, surprise in her face. He raised his gun, and shot her
through the head. Eyes wide open, she slumped to the floor. Charles
jumped back, and stared at her as she lay motionless on the
ground.

“What the hell?” He yelled, and turned
towards Roger. “What have you done?” He stammered in total
disbelief, as the look of shock grew with each second that
passed.

“What needed to be done. She failed.” He
turned and began to walk towards the mangled door. “Now get after
them, before I kill you dead where you stand.” Charles stared after
him, and looked back at Amelia’s body as it lay on the cold floor.
Lifeless. “Move!” Yelled Roger. Charles, shook himself loose from
the grizzly sight, and slowly approached the door. “You first,
Chancellor.” Roger said with angry contempt. Charles, walked up to
the small opening still visible through the doors, and without the
slightest bit of hesitation, walked through. Roger waited until he
was outside, and after he watched him take a few steps without
being attacked, he followed. He blinked in the bright sunshine and
walked in a crouch, as he tried to make sure that Charles was
always ahead, as his body offered him some type of cover from a
potential ambush. If the bastard survived this, Roger thought, he
would personally see to it, that it was his last duty as
Chancellor. After all, a dead man cannot be Chancellor. That was
the law. He smiled to himself, as he turned the corner around the
building.

After they turned the corner, the surrounding
buildings provided shade from the bright sun. Gabrielle climbed the
rusting ladder at the dead end they had run into, as Jericho helped
Jonah to stand near it. He checked the make shift bandage which was
already soaked with blood. Jonah winced as he shifted it.

“You have to go on without me.” He said
softly. Jericho ignored his statement, and satisfied the bandage
was the best he could do for now, he called up to Gabrielle.