The Sphinx Project (22 page)

"Freeze!" they bellowed, in a slightly out-of-synch chorus. I couldn't hear them, but I could read their lips.

We didn't. The bare hall offered no protection, not even a door through which we could duck for shelter. My brain took over, analyzing the distance between us in comparison to our speed and the likelihood of the soldiers to shoot.

Instead of stopping, I ran directly at them as fast as I possibly could. Mouse ran, too. They fired. Even though they should have known about our abilities, they didn't act like they did. They all missed, shooting at the places where we'd just been. Or should I say where Mouse had just been. They were all directing their aim at her.

I pulled her closer to me and they got distracted, unsure whether to shoot and risk hitting me, or let us get away. Mouse sent a bullet over their heads. The momentary distraction was enough and we rocketed forward.

I followed her lead and shot above them, missing on purpose. When I was close enough, I holstered my gun and grabbed hold of the nearest rifle, my hands pressing down on those of the man holding it. I wrenched it away, and slammed the butt of the gun into his face. He had no chance of avoiding it.

Mouse had taken care of another. I swept the third's feet from underneath him. I forced my hand into the back of his shoulder, sending him crashing to the ground. He flung out his hands to save himself. A horrible cracking noise reached my ears and he curled into the fetal position, clutching his arm to his body.

I dragged the assault rifle free of the unconscious man's grip. Reaching down, I disengaged the ammunition magazine from the second man's gun and collected the extra they were carrying. Mouse followed my lead.

We continued on, reaching the end of the corridor without an issue. As we rounded the last corner before the crumbled wall, we became aware of a huge amount of light seeping into the building. The siren cut out suddenly, a welcome quiet flooding my ears. Reducing our pace, we took extra care not to make a sound.

I peered around the final corner. It was easy to identify the source of the light; everything between the building and the trees was flooded with the bright white glare of huge floodlights. In the very center of the grass sat our car. Jake was lying on the ground in front of it, his hands and feet bound, eyes closed. No one else was in sight, but we weren't stupid enough to make a break for it.

How on earth were we going to get him out of this alive? They wouldn't hesitate to kill him. He was the bait.

"We have to do something," Mouse whispered, speaking my thoughts out loud.

I took a deep breath, straightened my shoulders and tried to harden my resolve. They'd drawn an innocent boy into a gun fight. I couldn't fathom what they were thinking. Surely they had children. Or younger siblings, perhaps? What sort of person would do that? Who
could
do that?

While I contemplated the situation, we were sitting ducks. I pulled back into the corner and readjusted my weapons. With a flick of my thumb I switched the dial on the assault rifle from automatic to semi-automatic, so I wouldn't waste bullets every time I squeezed the trigger.

I couldn't see anyone, but they would be there. There was no chance of taking them out if we didn't know where they were; we needed to be able to see them before they saw us. We had to get higher. Retreating farther back into the building, I led the way, heading for the internal staircase that would take us up to the upper levels.

The door to the stairwell was locked, unlike that to the lower levels, but I couldn't hear any noise behind it. I positioned the gun at the lock, below the handle, and with an ear-splitting crack blew the door from its latch. They would all know where we were now—the sudden surge in heart rates and the pounding of steps confirmed it.

We both kneeled at the door, sheltering behind the wall on either side. As the men in tactile armor appeared at the far corner of the corridor, we shot.

We aimed for their arms and legs, not torsos and heads. We wanted to take them down but not kill them. Neither of us needed more deaths than necessary on our consciences. I knew I already had plenty.

Sure, it may seem like we were leaving them for the creatures, but once we were gone they weren't our problem. If they died, it would be because their colleagues and superiors had let them.

I shot the first guy in the leg, sending him tumbling to the floor. The second took a hit to his arm, causing him to spin into the wall. In total, over a dozen men passed through the door. Within moments, they all lay scattered across the white floor, oozing blood from various wounds. Some tried to scramble to their feet, but very few succeeded.

We closed the door, wedging it shut with debris. I climbed the stairs two at a time. I heard nothing. Not a drop of static touched my ears, so I was fairly certain I wasn't being fooled again.

The second floor of the building was clear. It housed sleeping quarters for the soldiers and scientists. After a very quick exploration turned up nothing of interest, we returned to the stairs, climbing to the third floor.

This corridor was lined with plush carpet and the doors leading from the hallway were crafted from polished wood. I froze. A sweet, flowery scent tickled my nose. She'd been here, the woman on the motorbike.

The smell was faint, twisted with something rich and leathery. I couldn't hear any sign of life, and although she'd been incredibly quiet before, I was sure she wasn't here now. We each took a door; I entered the one directly to my left and Mouse the one opposite on the right.

The room was simply an office. There were no windows and there wasn't much of interest, simply spreadsheets with numbers and amounts. Mouse reported the same from her side. The next couple of rooms were pretty much identical, but as Mouse entered the third room on the right, she called out to me.

This room was much bigger than the rest, with a large oak desk right in the center. Along the paneled walls were six photos—one of each of the other girls, two of me, and one of a girl I'd never seen before. Why was I there twice? And who was the stranger?

I strode across the rug and seated myself in the luxurious leather chair behind the desk. I didn't bother trying to switch the computer on, since the monitor was no longer connected to anything. Like those downstairs had stood on their own, so too did this.

I jerked the drawers from the desk, emptying the contents on the ground. The first drawer held nothing more than stationery, the second had blank paper, but the third was interesting.

The largest of the drawers, the third, was a sort of filing cabinet. It held dozens of folders, organized by number in descending order and starting at number three hundred seventy six.

Three hundred seventy-six was my number, the number they'd assigned in lieu of a name when I was born. Pulling the folder from the drawer, I flicked it open on the desk to reveal another photo of my face. There were dozens of pages, all holding layers and layers of information. I pulled out the next to see Nicole's image staring at me.

"We need to take these. Is there anything to carry them in?"

Mouse rooted around in the cupboards set into the walls while I gathered all the files from the drawer.

Mouse found a bag, a black one that looked like it would fit a laptop. Disregarding the files, I gathered the papers from each and squashed them into the bag so I could take more with us.

As I zipped up the bag, I noticed a small crack of light running across the floor. I followed it and as I touched the 'wall', I realized that it was, in fact, a large, thick set of drapes. I moved them slightly to one side so I could see past. They weren't hiding a window, but an entire room.

It was a conservatory of sorts. A small room, the outer wall made completely of glass. I creeped around the corner of the curtain, careful to remain in the shadow. Mouse stayed in the office as a lookout.

The conservatory windows were the sort that slid across, which meant on a nice day they could open them completely so there was nothing more than a glass ceiling overhead. The room was sparsely furnished, with the furniture surrounding a large, empty fish tank in the center of the room.

I lowered myself to my belly and shuffled across the floor to the window latch. It wouldn't do for someone to glance up and see a shadow moving. I reached the glass and unlocked it, pushing it open far enough to enable me to slide the end of the rifle through. I waited for my eyes to properly adjust to the light and then scanned the tree line.

I saw one of them immediately. They had erected a small platform in the foliage of a large tree. Upon it a sniper lay motionless, gun pointed at the car below.

I sighted him and drew in a breath. It hissed past my teeth as I squeezed the trigger. Due to the position he was in, I had a very small target area, but I hit a bull's-eye, causing his head to slam backwards.

Another sniper to my right caught my attention as he scrambled to identify my location. He lifted himself, giving me an easier target. Once again, I hit him straight on. A third gave away his place in the same manner, looking around in surprise before I took out two more hiding in the undergrowth beneath them, too.

After a few minutes of stillness, Mouse called quietly from the other side of the curtains, asking if I'd gotten them. I nodded, knowing that she would be able to see me. I turned, making my way from the room, crouched close to the ground.

As I was leaving, I couldn't help taking a second look at the tank. That wasn't for fish. Fish tanks don't have soil and vegetation in them. I was sure the lids generally didn't sit so tightly either. It was designed to prevent something from getting out. Fish aren't exactly an escape risk.

I crouched beside the glass structure. It reminded me of the creatures and the clear cells that they were housed in below. In the dirt there were odd little grooves and small brown scales littered the surface. A tiny plaque at the bottom of the case displayed the creature's name: Gale.

I quickly moved back to the main office and, after one last scan, we left. The rest of the floor was uninteresting, small, windowless offices and boring paperwork. I slung the strap of the bag over my shoulder and we ran down the stairs the way we'd come.

I could still hear the groaning guards out there but couldn't tell if there were any new additions. The moans of the injured overshadowed the heartbeats, obscuring them and preventing us from counting accurately.

I beat at the now-useless door handle with the butt of the rifle and it came straight out, allowing us a peep hole to observe the hallway outside.

There were two new men, using the fallen bodies of their colleagues as shields. They were waiting for us.

The sheer disregard they had for these men's lives was astounding. Instead of hauling them out, they were not only putting them in harm's way but holding them against their will. We hadn't killed any of them, just incapacitated them.

Lining up my shot, I fired a bullet that hit my intended target, directly through the shoulder joint on which his rifle was propped. The second hit the other man in the side of his chest. They both fell.

I hoped they'd send someone to care for them soon, but at the same time, these were probably the bastards who had taken my sister. At that thought, a dark voice inside of me was hoping for their pain.

We left the stairwell. I walked straight toward the men.

"What are you doing?" Mouse asked frantically.

I ignored her.

The man closest to me lay twisting on his stomach. I couldn't see the wound from this position, but there was a lot of blood. I kicked him over and he screamed. I pointed my gun at him, ensuring he wouldn't try anything funny. Now I could see I'd hit him in the arm. It hadn't gone all the way through—the bullet was still in there.

"Where's my sister?" I demanded.

He said nothing, just glared at me. His eyes glistened. Were they tears of pain? Or did he think I was going to finish him off? I didn't have the time or patience for this.

"Where is my sister?" I asked again. This time I lifted my heel and lowered it onto his arm. His eyes widened as I increased the pressure. He screamed.

The noise ripped through my ears. I closed myself off from the guilt, transferring my weight to my foot.

"I'll tell you!" he wailed.

I lifted my foot immediately.

"I don't know where exactly, but they've taken her to a facility in New York. Somewhere near a mountain."

"And what about the other one? Is Briana with them?"

"Yes."

I motioned for Mouse to follow me. We climbed over the writhing and withering men, they were all that stood between us and the crumbling wall. We saw no one else en route to the gaping hole and no one appeared to be waiting outside.

Instructing Mouse to stay put and cover me, I left the bag and ran to Jake. He was lying on his side with his arms bound behind him. I could hear the thin-sounding thumps of his heart. Something about him smelled wrong. It reminded me of waking up after an operation.

I dragged him into the back seat of the car, unwilling to release the grip I had on my gun in case we were surprised again. I couldn't hear anyone else around us, but I wasn't willing to trust my ears completely right now. I was still shaken that the scientists had been able to completely take my ability away without me realizing.

The keys were not in the ignition and I searched the car quickly, finding them below the driver's seat. I pushed them into place and twisted them tentatively, half expecting it not to start, half expecting it to blow up, and hoping like hell it would run normally. Neither the first nor the second possibility came to pass and, to my surprise, the car roared into life.

Pushing the stick into first gear, I swung the car around as close as I could safely get to the side of the building. As I turned, I reached across the passenger seat, pulling on the door handle so that the forces acting on the car made the door fly open.

Mouse vaulted in. Tossing the bag onto the floor at her feet she slammed the door shut again.

The gates were wide open and we got away with no more trouble.