Trapped (13 page)

The
afternoon of the fourth day went by without anything noteworthy
happening. Halfway through the second shift Ash and Shadow both
assumed their normal stations, one on the roof, the other pacing the
inside of the perimeter.

The
idea of being next to Shadow while he calmly gunned down some
innocent bystander who just happened to be in the wrong place at the
wrong time had bothered me more than I'd let on, so I chose to follow
Ash around instead of going up onto the roof.

The
next few hours dragged by with incredible slowness, but then all of a
sudden Shadow bit out an oath, too quiet to carry far into the
darkness, but loud enough to alert the rest of us to the fact that
things weren't all OK. Ash almost seemed to materialize out of the
darkness.

"What
is it?"

"I'm
not sure. I've been watching a shadow for most of the last hour. I
thought maybe the moon was moving enough to account for the way it
was shifting over the landscape, but it's got to be artificial."

"I'll
get the others up."

While
Ash was rousing the rest of the team, Shadow kept up a steady stream
of curses.

"You
didn't tell me he was three-quarters the size of a full grown horse."

Ash
was back, his rifle resting against his cheek as he tried to use the
night scope to find Anton.

"You're
exaggerating."

"Yeah,
but not by much, this guy's got to be pushing two hundred and fifty."

"Obviously
there was a reason that I engaged all five of you. I'd hardly put
together such a large team for a minor threat."

"Sure,
but I was hoping that you were just jumping at shadows. I mean who
would have guessed that a scrawny guy like you could walk away from
three separate engagements with a monster like that?"

The
rest of the mercenaries were in their normal places now, each
sporting an impressive array of weapons. I heard the same kind of
muttered expletives up and down the line as each of them finally
found Anton and realized what kind of fight they were in for.

Ash
grabbed my arm and pulled me back behind the cabin.

"I
want you to stay back here. There's only so much you can do to help
and I'd rather know that you're back here, relatively safe, when the
landmines start going off."

I
opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off.

"After
everything we've been through, I'm not going to lose you to a piece of
shrapnel. You'll stay here and you'll stay behind the cabin."

I
nodded once, abruptly, but it was enough for Ash. I watched him
disappear around the corner, counted to fifteen, and then walked to
the edge of the house where I'd at least be able to see and hear what
was going on.

Dieter
was talking now.

"Everyone
is ready, go ahead and engage at will, Shadow."

Even
with my better vantage point, I couldn't see Anton, but I was
able to mostly tell what was going on based on the running complaints
from Hammer and the others.

Shadow
cut loose with his first shot and I nearly jumped out of my shoes. It
was a hit, but nobody was as excited as they should have been. Anton
kept coming, wounded, but not incapacitated, and now he was even
sneakier.

He
seemed to be running from one bit of cover to another, too fast most
times for anyone to get a shot off. I'd looked out at the
desert when we'd arrived and seen nothing but a featureless
plain. Apparently that wasn't the case though, because Anton
seemed to be finding all kinds of little gullies, rocks, and
depressions and rises to serve as either cover or concealment.

As
the distance steadily closed, the rest of the team started opening up
as well, taking hurried shots as Anton's sleek, four-legged
form flashed between obstacles.

It
sounded like they made at least two more hits, but the swearing kept
getting more and more frequent, especially from Shadow, who hadn't
managed a second hit yet.

Every
other time that we'd had a run in with Anton I'd been so
scared for my life that I hadn't had any chance to do anything
other than just react. This time was different. Time seemed to move
forward in stops and starts, stuttering its way along as it counted
down to Anton's arrival.

There
was a particularly furious barrage and then I looked up and saw
Shadow pick up his MP5, abandoning his sniper rifle in favor of
something with a higher rate of fire and lower range. Less than a
second later the world exploded as Anton tripped one of the
mines.

I
later found out that Shiver had purposefully placed them so that one
going off would set all the rest of them off as well. All I knew at
the time was that a hammer stroke of pressure threw me to the ground
as a number of hissing shards of metal flew by.

My
ears were ringing, giving the scene a kind of surreal nature. I
started to pull myself back to my feet, sure that Anton was dead, but
Ash was already on his feet, rifle at the ready and the rest of the
team didn't look relieved.

The
gunfire started again, surreal in that I couldn't hear it, but
everywhere I looked the team was desperately trying to bring Anton
down, pouring full auto fire into a point I still couldn't see.

Between
one heartbeat and the next Anton appeared. He killed Hammer before I
realized anything had happened, and moved onto Smith, launching
himself from Hammer's bleeding corpse while I was still trying to
adjust to the proof that the mines hadn't killed him.

Smith
was faster than I would have given him credit for. He managed to
throw himself backwards, nearly far enough to escape Anton, but even
a passing swipe from the obscenely long claws at the end of Anton's
paw was enough to open Smith up from neck to stomach.

Shiver
was backing away, rifle rocking back as he fought the recoil, but he
abruptly ran to the end of the clip and Anton changed direction in a
flash, killing Shiver before the mercenary managed to get a
replacement clip into his weapon.

Ash
somehow ended up the next target, but unlike the others he didn't
try to dodge. He scored with at least two more rounds before Anton
barreled into him, claws flashing. I saw blood fountain, some of it
Ash's, some of it Anton's, and suddenly remembered that I
had my pistol out.

I
shot twice, but before I could line up my third shot Dieter went
down, and I held off on my fourth shot because I was worried I'd
hit Shadow.

A
second later Shadow was dead. It only took three more shots to
realize that Anton was playing with me. He'd show just enough
of himself around a corner to make me fire and then disappear as I
squeezed the trigger.

I
should have known something was up when after a few iterations he
came around the corner of the house and just sat there. I pulled the
trigger again and then realized that the slide had locked back. The
gun was empty and I suddenly found that I was shaking so bad that it
took me two tries to eject the magazine.

He
was stalking me now, slowly creeping forward as I backed away,
fumbling for a replacement magazine.

The
first one slipped out of my fingers as I tried to pull it from the
shoulder holster. It hit the ground and bounced off into the ravine
and I realized for the first time just how close I was to the edge.

My
fear of heights normally would have picked that instant to kick into
high gear but I was already as scared as it was physically possible
for me to get. I took another step, angling my path slightly so that
I paralleled the edge.

It
was pointless. Anton was close enough to cover the distance in one
leap now. If I actually managed to get a magazine into my pistol he'd
still kill me before I managed to get a shot off. Still, something
inside of me refused to just stand there and wait for him to kill me.

I
got my second and final magazine out and looked Anton in the eye as I
slipped it home. I could see him gathering himself to leap, but I
thumbed the slide release and then all hell broke loose.

I
actually saw at least three separate bullets hit Anton before I
realized that someone else had to be alive. Anton was fast, but not
nearly as fast as before. Apparently the bullets were finally taking
their toll on him.

I
had my pistol up and managed to get a single shot off myself before
Anton spun around. My ears had stopped ringing enough that I heard
the rifle switch to full auto. The impact of the bullets caused Anton
to misstep.

My
second shot actually hit Anton, but it was nothing compared to what
whoever had the rifle did to him. Anton managed another step and then
fell over the edge of the ravine.

Still
shaking, now more from relief than anything else, I pulled out the
flashlight Ash had given me days previously and forced myself over to
the edge of the drop-off. I was expecting to see Anton's broken
corpse lying at the bottom. Instead I found Anton, back in human
form, clinging to the rock several dozen feet below.

He
was moving slowly but steadily upward so I raised my pistol again and
took another shot at him. I should have hit him, the shot was on
target, but he let go of the cliff, dropping far enough to kill a
normal person before finding another handhold to stop his descent.

I
emptied my clip down the face of the cliff, managing to force him
further down, but never quite hitting him. As the last shot
ricocheted off of the ravine floor Anton dropped down to the ground,
shifted back to cat form and started running.

He
wasn't running very fast, probably not any faster than I could
have, but it was only a matter of time before he got to the end of
the canyon or otherwise found a way out. I found myself holstering my
pistol and then remembered the rifle fire that had driven him away in
the first place.

I
nearly started crying when I found Ash. It was equal parts joy that
he wasn't dead, and fear that he wouldn't make it. He was
pretty bad off with deep gashes all over his chest, legs and stomach.

"I'm
so glad you're OK!"

He
coughed, but waved me away when I tried to help.

"He's
not dead?"

"No.
He's at the bottom of the ravine—I don't know how long
we've got until he'll be back here."

"OK.
You'll need to work fast then. There's a first-aid kit in
the Hummer, get it and bring it to me. Then I need you to drag the
others into the cabin. Use the rest of the incendiary grenades to
start the cabin and their vehicles on fire. Then we need to get back
in the Hummer and get out of here."

It
was one of the most gruesome things I'd ever had to do. The
only thing that kept me moving was knowing that if I took too long it
wouldn't just be me that died. Ash was depending on me.

Half
an hour later I managed to get Ash into the Hummer and then I set
everything that could be used to trace us back to the location on
fire.

Things
were both easier and much, much harder this time around. It was the
second time I found myself driving who knew where with Ash nearly
dead in the seat next to me. Ash handed me a phone number and then
stayed conscious long enough to shoot himself full of antibiotics and
tape up the worst of his wounds before passing out.

I
waited to dial the phone number until I made it on the freeway. Once
we were on a paved surface, I could ratchet the Hummer up to higher
double digits rather than the snail's pace I'd been
forced to take previously. With the extra speed I finally started to
feel safe.

That
was when the adrenaline finally finished flushing the rest of the way
out of my system and I got the shakes again. I dropped the phone
while trying to dial and then pulled over, opened my door and
vomited.

The
shakes didn't really subside after that, at least not very
quickly, but I felt a little better. I managed to dial the number on
the second try.

"What
the helicopter?"

Somehow
I hadn't been expecting a woman to answer. I cleared my throat.

"This
isn't Ash, but he told me to say 'shut the front door'
if you said that."

There
was a brief moment of silence as if she didn't want to believe
what she was hearing.

"He's
alive?"

"Yes,
but he's hurt. We tangled with a…"

She
cut me off. "It's not particularly safe to go into those
kinds of details over any open cellular connection. How bad is he
hurt? Do you think he can make it three hours? Less? More?"

I
risked a brief look over at Ash and felt the shakes starting to try
and resurface.

"I'm
not sure. He got himself taped up before he passed out, but it looks
like he's pretty much bled through the gauze already."

"Very
well. May I call you Jane? I know it's not your real name, but
again those types of details simply aren't safe right now. If
he's bleeding as bad as you say, then we can't risk a
longer option. Please tell me where you are and what you're
driving."

I
consulted the Hummer's GPS, relayed our coordinates and a
description of the Hummer.

"Continue
on the road you're currently on for three miles then head north
when you get to 93. Maintain exactly the speed limit and don't
forget to stop when you see me. We should meet up in approximately an
hour."

"How
will I know it's you?"

"Ah,
dear Jane. It's simple, I'll be the one in the
helicopter. I beg your pardon but I must go now if I'm to
arrange all of this in the next fifteen minutes."

She
hung up while I was still trying to process everything she'd
just said. I looked at the phone a couple of times and then shook my
head. There wasn't anything left to do but follow her
directions and hope she wasn't the crazy, but polite, lady that
she seemed to be.