'Over the computer?' she asked, and he nodded. Hoblenz got into the jeep behind the wheel, and Gray took the passenger seat beside him.
Laura climbed into the back with two soldiers. When the engine growled to a start, she leaned forward and tapped Hoblenz's broad shoulder.
'When did you do your check on me?'
He looked around to make sure the second jeep was ready to go. 'A few months ago.'
'A few months ago?'
Hoblenz ground the gears, and the vehicle lurched forward.
Gray never looked over at her… but he was listening. They took off toward the Village. Her jeep with Gray, Hoblenz, and the two soldiers was followed by a second jeep similarly manned.
The jeep in back, however, had one of the antitank missile launchers mounted on it.
Laura looked up at the soldier standing beside her. His eyes were covered with night-vision goggles. 'What is that thing?' she asked in a loud voice, pointing at the thick-barreled machine gun.
'Automatic grenade launcher!' he replied over the loud noise. She nodded knowingly. 'Shoots these things!' He twisted a belt studded with stubby, bullet-shaped projectiles about the width of Laura's wrist.
Laura arched her eyebrows and nodded again.
The warm air felt cool as they sped up the boulevard toward the statue. Gray leaned over and asked Hoblenz, 'Have all the SEALs pulled back off the island?'
'Yep. There were six teams best I can tell. Must've come in on mini subs 'cause we didn't see any landing craft. They might've come in through the window, but they left through the front door. Those surface ships put boats ashore at the harbor and recovered ever' last one of 'em.'
'You mean they all just left?' Laura interrupted.
'Looks like it. Right after those firefights in the empty quarter.'
'Why?'
'Must've seen a ghost, is my guess.'
'The robots?' Laura asked.
Hoblenz looked over his shoulder at Laura and then rolled his eyes at Gray.
They passed through the Village and headed up the mountain, passing the wreckage of several robots. The further they went from the Village, the darker the night seemed to grow. There was total silence as the jeeps ascended the mountain, save the call Gray placed to Janet.
She had taken a cellular phone and was hiding in her bedroom closet. The jeeps' headlights lit the narrow gorge through the high walls of vegetation. The jungle pressed so close that Laura could almost touch it. So close that someone — something — could almost reach out and grab her.
When they arrived at the black opening of the tunnel, Hoblenz pulled the jeep onto the sidewalk and stopped. The soldier above Laura ducked as the branches slapped at his helmet. She looked into the dark, dank jungle not six inches from her shoulder. The air was thick with the smell of rotting things.
The second jeep pulled up beside theirs, the two sets of headlights bathing the tunnel in their glow. The soldiers not manning the jeeps' weapons climbed down. The engines were shut off and all was quiet.
Laura leaned forward. 'What's going on?' she asked Gray.
Hoblenz led three men toward the tunnel entrance. Two others took up positions just in front of and behind the two jeeps, facing away.
'He's checking out the tunnel,' Gray replied.
Hoblenz and his soldiers quickly disappeared into the dark maw. Laura kept glancing at the jungle to her right. She couldn't shake from her head the image of being grabbed, or the physical feeling that image evoked — the feeling of being dragged deeper and deeper into the mud and muck of alien terrain. Of clawing at the ground as she was pulled into a world whose border rose ominously inches away.
'I'm gonna stretch my legs,' Laura said, unbuckling her seatbelt to climb out.
'Stay in the jeep,' Gray said tersely, his eyes, like those of the two men standing at the jeeps' roll bars, fixed intently on the tunnel opening.
She sighed and rebuckled her belt, leaning away from the edge of civilization. Her nerves were taut, and she drew a deep and calming breath.
The world around her seemed frozen in time. The man at the gun beside her was bent over his weapon. The soldier at the front of their jeep stood motionless with his rifle half raised. Gray's head was still — his eyes focused on the mouth of the tunnel. Laura felt like she was in virtual reality, and the program had been halted with the Pause button. She found herself nervously looking for some sign of life around her. The soldier behind their jeep slowly raised the butt of his rifle to the hollow of his shoulder — the sights rising to his goggles. He was ready, but he had nothing at which to aim.
The tunnel erupted with stunning bursts of gunfire. Laura clapped her hands over her ears, her heart clenching tight and rising into her throat. Then there was silence again. She felt every beat of her heart against her chest. Two, three, four… A giant spider skittered out of the tunnel, its head bowed low and its legs taking short but furious steps.
The soldier who stood beside Laura fired — the night erupting in thudding bursts from the heavy weapon mounted above her on the jeep's roll bar. Bursts of flame erupted from the robot's torso and from the concrete facing of the tunnel mouth just behind. But the robot raced down the road undeterred — straight at the two jeeps blocking its path.
In a flash the Model Seven was upon them. Laura ducked as the leg slammed down onto the jeep's hood. It climbed right on top of the vehicle. The weapon above her fell silent as its crewman collapsed, guttural grunts venting from his chest. The jeep rocked with the pummeling blows. Glass shattered and a man screamed.
With one last press downward on the jeep's suspension, the robot was gone. The soldier beside Laura rose to his feet, turning his weapon around to point down the road.
The night again exploded with a machinegun-like string of booms.
The smoking, empty shell casings spun wildly out of the weapon's ejector. Every muscle in Laura's body was tensed, and her palms were jammed hard onto her ears.
She felt a hand rest lightly on her shoulder. She looked up. 'It's gone,' Gray said, his words almost lost against the ringing in her ears.
The two soldiers stood at the roll bars with their weapons pointed down the hill after the Model Seven. The windshield of the second jeep was shattered, and the man atop it was bareheaded and bleeding from the stubble of his hair. The soldier guarding the rear climbed up to dress his comrade's wound while the injured man's eyes remained glued to the missile's sights.
Gray got out and helped the soldier in front to his feet. The two men then headed up the road toward the tunnel — their rifles raised to their shoulders and ready.
Laura unbuckled her belt and followed, the branches and leaves scratching at her in the narrow space beside the jeep. Almost forgetting, she went back and got her rifle. She had to run to catch up with Gray at the mouth of the tunnel.
The steely odor of gunfire wafted from the dark shaft ahead.
From out of the faint haze, however, she saw Hoblenz's small group approach — two soldiers lending support to a third, who hopped on one foot in between.
'Is he all right?' Gray asked Hoblenz when they emerged.
'What?' Hoblenz shouted, cocking his ear to Gray.
'Is that man hurt badly?' Gray asked in a raised tone.
'How bad?' Hoblenz replied too loudly, turning to peer into the bright headlights of the battered jeeps.
'No!' Gray shouted, shaking his head. 'I was asking about him!' He pointed.
Hoblenz just shook his head, cupping his ear with his fingertips. 'I can't hear a thing!' he yelled. He turned to Laura. 'Don't ever get in a firefight inside a tunnel!' he advised.
The two men helped the wounded soldier hop by. 'He's okay!' Hoblenz yelled. 'Just fractured his leg a little!'
'What happened?' Gray practically shouted.
Hoblenz shrugged, working his jaw as if to clear his ears. 'Damn thing just freaked out. We musta scared it. Walked right up on it from behind.'
