'What are you doing?' Brainiac said.
'I'm staying here with my friend.'
And then Brainiac saw the sadness in Elvis's eyes — saw Elvis look lethally over at the 7th Squadron men sidestepping their way toward them from the far end of the platform.
Brainiac nodded. 'Take care of yourself, Elvis.'
'Never,' Elvis said.
'Brainiac!' Schofield yelled, gun in hand, trying to see what was happening at the back of the train without getting his head blown off. 'What's going on back there!'
Brainiac's voice said, 'We lost Love Machine, sir, and Elvis has… oh, fuck!'
Just then, two loud puncturelike booms echoed out through the underground station.
Thawump!
Thawump!
Schofield turned — just in time to see two black baseball-sized grenades come rocketing through the air toward him and the X-Rail car!
They had been shot from a pair of M-203 grenade launchers held by the 7th Squadron commandos.
The two high explosive rounds shot in through the blasted-open windows of the lead X-Rail car… one entering near the front of the car, right next to Schofield; the other rocketing in through a broken window near the rear of the car, near Gant and Mother and the President.
The grenade near Schofield bounced off the far wall and spun to a halt on the floor a couple of yards away from him.
Schofield didn't waste a second.
He dived forward — toward the grenade, sliding across the floor on his chest — and swiped the charge back out through the open door of the railcar with his hand. The grenade whipped across the hard floor of the carriage and disappeared through the door. Schofield then ducked back behind the wall as the grenade detonated outside, sending a vicious ball of flames rushing in through the doorway.
At the other end of the carriage, Gant and Mother weren't so lucky.
Their grenade had landed in among the passenger seats that occupied the rear half of the carriage. There was no way anyone could get to it before it detonated.
'Everybody! This way!' Gant said, yanking the President to his feet and shoving him toward the accordion-like tunnel that connected the two X-Rail cars.
A glass door slid sideways as Gant pushed the President through the passageway. Mother, Juliet, Hot Rod and Tate clambered through behind them.
The glass door slid shut as a second connecting door opened and Gant and the President dived through it — entering the second rail car — and threw themselves sprawling to the floor, closely followed by the others, just as the grenade in the first rail car exploded brilliantly, spreading fire in every direction, shattering the first connecting door, but only cracking the second one, its flaming claws left to scratch hungrily at the glass.
Schofield was thrown to the ground by the blast of the second grenade.
He staggered to his feet, spoke into his radio mike: 'Fox! Mother! You guys all right?'
Gant's voice: 'We're still here, and we've still got the President. We're in the second carriage now.'
'Brainiac,' Schofield said. 'Are you on board?'
'Yeah, I'm in the back of the second car…'
'Book!' Schofield yelled forward. 'Have you figured out how to drive this thing yet?'
'I think so!'
'Then punch it!'
moment later, the X-Rail train began to move forward on its tracks, heading toward the oncoming 7th Squadron soldiers.
'Sir,' it was Brainiac's voice. 'I have to tell you something. We lost Love Machine…'
'Ah, shit,' Schofield said sadly.
'…and we're about to lose Elvis.'
'What?' Schofield said, perplexed and horrified at the same time.
But he didn't get to discuss it further, for at that moment, three more puncturelike whumps reverberated through the underground station.
Thwump!
Thwump!
Thwump!
Three rocket-launched grenades sped across the width of the station, zeroing in on the slow moving X-Rail train, three thin lines of smoke cutting through the air behind them, before suddenly — swoop! — swoop! — swoop! — one after the other they shot in through the shattered windows of the second X-Rail car.
The X-Rail car that held the President.
As if on cue, Schofield heard Mother's voice roar over his earpiece: 'Oh, fuck me!'
The twin-engined X-Rail train began to pick up speed, heading for the tunnel.
In the second railcar, Gant couldn't believe what was happening.
Three grenades!
All in her carriage.
She saw the options in a nanosecond: If we stay, we die for sure. If we get out, we take our chances with the 7th Squadron. In that case, death is probable, but not certain.
'We can't stay here!' she yelled instantly. 'Out! Out!'
She and Juliet immediately grabbed the President by his coat and hauled him toward the door.
They didn't miss a step as they ran through the doorway and dived out of the moving train onto the platform, rolling quickly as they landed.
Hot Rod Hagerty and Nicholas Tate jumped nervously from the moving rail car, landing awkwardly.
A split second later, the figure of Mother — obviously not wanting to wait in line behind Hagerty and Tate — came flying out through one of the broken windows next to the doorway. She somersaulted as she hit the platform, gun tucked up against her chest, rolled to her feet.
A moment later, the three grenades went off — three consecutive blasts, booming out from the second rail car.
A trio of brilliant fireballs expanded laterally throughout the interior of the rail car — illuminating the entire carriage like a spectacular elongated lightbulb — consuming every available inch of space within it.
Angry flames billowed out from the windows of the carriage, snapping the window frames like twigs, cracking the car's walls.
The fireballs fanned out over the underground platform, expanding over Gant and the others' heads as they scurried behind the station's concrete pillars to avoid the fire of the advancing 7th Squadron men.
The entire X-Rail train rocked with the triple grenade explosion, but it kept on going, picking up speed with every yard.
In the front carriage, Schofield was almost knocked off his feet by the blast. When he managed to regain his balance and look back down the track, he felt a rush of horror sweep through him.
He saw the President — flanked by Gant and Mother and Juliet — taking cover on the underground station's platform.
Damn it!
The President was off the train!
The accelerating X-Rail train was now approaching the western end of the station, coming alongside the 7th Squadron commandos positioned there. Schofield saw the 7th Squadron men, right alongside his carriage, but they paid him no heed.
They only had eyes for the President.
And suddenly Schofield had a decision to make.
Leap off the train and stay with the President — the President on whose back the fate of the country rested.
Or go after the boy…
Then, in a fleeting instant, just as the train was about to disappear into the tunnel, Schofield saw him, and he
