quiet and looked down.
“I know, my friend, I’m worried about everyone’s
families, too,” Shane said slowly, glancing up at the clouds and thinking back
to Carlie’s lovely face from earlier that morning. Hope you made it out
alive, mi amiga.
Chapter 15
As the service tunnel ended, Carlie
climbed up the rusty metal steps, brushing aside rat droppings as she went. She
tried lifting the hatch but it was locked from the other side. She used the
butt end of her rifle to repeatedly slam the attachment while holding on to the
ladder with her other hand.
Once it was open, she slowly lifted the
hatch an inch to survey the lobby area. All she could see was the gray
underside of steps, as the entry was located directly under the first-floor
staircase. She climbed out and swept the corners ahead, then motioned to the
others to come up.
Once inside, Phillip and Carlie cleared
the small lobby area while the professor and Eliza huddled together under the
stairs.
The Skaggs Pharmaceutical Building was a
two-story structure with only a few skylights in the ceiling and immense brick
walls which helped to keep the structure at an even sixty degrees year-round. Walking
along the sterile corridor near the front desk, both of them swept along the
first floor, which consisted of a toxicology lab, drug repositories, a refrigeration
unit for pharmaceuticals, and faculty offices. The building was evidently not
occupied on weekends and Carlie could see the deadbolts on the solid steel front
doors were still in place. The only windows were overhead skylights that had
computer-controlled louvres and shades with special filters to block excessive
UV rays. Dusk was upon campus as the last slivers of light pierced through the
overhead windowpanes.
“This building seems defensible with the
high brick walls and only a few overhead windows, right?” Phillip said.
“We don’t have a choice for now,” Carlie
said. “Let’s rest here for a while, rehydrate, and see if I can make contact
with HQ.”
“Do your comms only patch into the downtown
office?” said Phillip.
“Yes, but we may be able to get through
to central command in Washington on the sat phone in the vehicle—if I can get
to it.”
“You mean the sat phone…out there,” he
said. pointing the muzzle of his rifle forward while running his other hand
back along his sweaty forehead.
Carlie frowned, thinking of standard
operating procedures. Normally, there would have been two more rescue teams
in by now and numerous airborne assets on the rooftops. HQ must have been
totally caught off guard and are either locked down fighting for their own
survival or... Shepaused, rolling her shoulders forward. Or…dead.
She knelt down and removed all the
magazines and weapons from her vest and shoulder holster and laid them on the
cement floor, then did an inventory of the remaining rounds. “Give me five
minutes to saddle up here and swig down some water and then I’ll be on my way.
In the meantime, I want you to stalk up to the east window and recon the path
to the Suburban.”
Eliza stepped forward with her hands
folded over her chest. “We could be out searching for other survivors, you
know. Aren’t you supposed to have more agents here by now?”
Carlie could feel the resentment welling
up from her gut. “You mean besides the ten good men we lost today just trying
to save you?”
“My father has you hound me for years,
and for what—what is the point of all your training if we can’t rescue the
other people out there?”
“It’s because of our ‘training’ that
you’re able to stand before me and complain at all, Eliza. And the same reason
that, come tomorrow at this time, you’ll be sipping a caramel latte in your
father’s secure bunker. Until that time, I’ll continue to cling to you like a
lizard to the shade.”
Eliza’s raised her eyebrows, looking at
the professor, who was silent, and then back to Carlie.
“There are other students trapped
“I know, my friend, I’m worried about everyone’s
families, too,” Shane said slowly, glancing up at the clouds and thinking back
to Carlie’s lovely face from earlier that morning. Hope you made it out
alive, mi amiga.
Chapter 15
As the service tunnel ended, Carlie
climbed up the rusty metal steps, brushing aside rat droppings as she went. She
tried lifting the hatch but it was locked from the other side. She used the
butt end of her rifle to repeatedly slam the attachment while holding on to the
ladder with her other hand.
Once it was open, she slowly lifted the
hatch an inch to survey the lobby area. All she could see was the gray
underside of steps, as the entry was located directly under the first-floor
staircase. She climbed out and swept the corners ahead, then motioned to the
others to come up.
Once inside, Phillip and Carlie cleared
the small lobby area while the professor and Eliza huddled together under the
stairs.
The Skaggs Pharmaceutical Building was a
two-story structure with only a few skylights in the ceiling and immense brick
walls which helped to keep the structure at an even sixty degrees year-round. Walking
along the sterile corridor near the front desk, both of them swept along the
first floor, which consisted of a toxicology lab, drug repositories, a refrigeration
unit for pharmaceuticals, and faculty offices. The building was evidently not
occupied on weekends and Carlie could see the deadbolts on the solid steel front
doors were still in place. The only windows were overhead skylights that had
computer-controlled louvres and shades with special filters to block excessive
UV rays. Dusk was upon campus as the last slivers of light pierced through the
overhead windowpanes.
“This building seems defensible with the
high brick walls and only a few overhead windows, right?” Phillip said.
“We don’t have a choice for now,” Carlie
said. “Let’s rest here for a while, rehydrate, and see if I can make contact
with HQ.”
“Do your comms only patch into the downtown
office?” said Phillip.
“Yes, but we may be able to get through
to central command in Washington on the sat phone in the vehicle—if I can get
to it.”
“You mean the sat phone…out there,” he
said. pointing the muzzle of his rifle forward while running his other hand
back along his sweaty forehead.
Carlie frowned, thinking of standard
operating procedures. Normally, there would have been two more rescue teams
in by now and numerous airborne assets on the rooftops. HQ must have been
totally caught off guard and are either locked down fighting for their own
survival or... Shepaused, rolling her shoulders forward. Or…dead.
She knelt down and removed all the
magazines and weapons from her vest and shoulder holster and laid them on the
cement floor, then did an inventory of the remaining rounds. “Give me five
minutes to saddle up here and swig down some water and then I’ll be on my way.
In the meantime, I want you to stalk up to the east window and recon the path
to the Suburban.”
Eliza stepped forward with her hands
folded over her chest. “We could be out searching for other survivors, you
know. Aren’t you supposed to have more agents here by now?”
Carlie could feel the resentment welling
up from her gut. “You mean besides the ten good men we lost today just trying
to save you?”
“My father has you hound me for years,
and for what—what is the point of all your training if we can’t rescue the
other people out there?”
“It’s because of our ‘training’ that
you’re able to stand before me and complain at all, Eliza. And the same reason
that, come tomorrow at this time, you’ll be sipping a caramel latte in your
father’s secure bunker. Until that time, I’ll continue to cling to you like a
lizard to the shade.”
Eliza’s raised her eyebrows, looking at
the professor, who was silent, and then back to Carlie.
“There are other students trapped
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