car to the airport. We think she decided to save money and hop the Blue Line. Her train would have hit the subway about the time the pathogen was released.”
“Where is she?” I said.
“Anna collapsed in a bathroom at O’Hare. She was pronounced dead five hours later. Our first and, so far, only victim at the airport. Ellen watched her sister’s autopsy last night. I thought you should know. In case you see her.”
“Thanks.”
The wind had settled; the curtain of smoke slipped away. A weak beat of sunlight filtered through a window. Molly moved into the seat beside me. I could feel her shoulder tight against mine, and looked up at a poster telling me I should get tested for HIV.
“What happens next?” I said.
Molly’s laugh was muffled through her mask. “Kind of a loaded question, isn’t it?”
Just then a. 30-caliber slug shattered the window behind me, blowing Molly Carrolton off the seat and hammering her to the floor.
CHAPTER 37
A splatter of red trailed across the empty seat. My eyes followed it right off the edge. Molly lay on her side, one hand clutching her shoulder. She tried to raise herself up.
“Stay there.” I slid to the floor, keeping my head below the blown-out window. The train was still stopped, and I could hear voices from somewhere up ahead. “Where are you hit?”
Molly swore softly under her breath. “My arm, I think. Hurts.”
“I’m gonna take off your mask.”
Molly nodded. I undid the seals and slid it off. “Your suit was breached anyway.”
“Damn.” Molly rolled over and lay flat on her back. “There’s a first aid kit in my pack.”
I found the kit and opened it up. “Let me take a look.”
Molly eased her hand off the gunshot wound. I unzipped the suit and peeled it back.
“Why are you wearing a vest?” I said.
“Protocol. I was going to offer you one but didn’t think you’d wear it.”
“You figured right.”
I loosened the protective vest and slipped it off. The bullet had grazed the back of her arm, halfway between the elbow and shoulder.
“Lucky girl.”
“You could have fooled me.”
”Didn’t hit any bone. Looks like it might have passed straight through.” I cleaned the wound as best I could, opened up a couple of gauze pads, and pressed them gently against the rip in her skin. My eyes traveled across the car, to a hole drilled into a seam of metal.
“Get that for me, will you?” Molly pointed to a radio, lying a few feet away. She hit a button and talked briefly with someone. I listened to the voices in the car ahead of us. They were getting closer, but still hadn’t breached the connecting door.
“Will they come through?” I said.
“No. I told them we’re not wearing our suits, so they’re gonna send a team to get us out of here.”
“Are they sending someone out to look for the shooter?”
“They didn’t say.”
“Hang on to this for a minute.” I put her hand over the bandage and made sure she was keeping pressure on the wound. Then I crept across the aisle to the bullet hole. A minute later, I had dug out the slug. Molly had the bandage to her shoulder and was using her pack as a pillow.
“You all right?” I said. She nodded.
“How long did they say they’d be?”
“Minutes.”
I put the slug into a Baggie and shoved it into a pack I’d brought with me.
“Go ahead,” Molly said.
“What?”
“You want to take a look, right?”
“I was thinking about it.”
“If you wait, they’ll never let you go.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. They’ll be here in a minute.”
I checked her bandage and taped it tight to her shoulder. Molly gripped my upper arm as I finished and pulled herself up to one elbow. I was surprised by her strength.
“Why did he shoot me?” she said.
“You talk like you know who did it.”
“I think you know.”
“I don’t.”
“But it’s related to the release.”
“Could be just a random gangbanger.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“Not really, no.”
Molly eased back to the floor and pointed to the radio beside her. “Take that with you.”
“You keep it.”
“Your cell phone won’t work down here.”
“I’ll be all right.”
Molly didn’t fight me. She looked a little pale and I thought there might be a touch of shock setting in.
“Maybe I should hang around until they get here,” I said.
“Go. I’ll tell Ellen what happened.”
I could hear sirens now and crept to a door on the opposite side of the train. Molly waved me on. I sealed up my mask, pried the door open, and stepped out onto the track bed.
CHAPTER 38
Marcus had killed two in as many minutes. The first was lying in a hallway filled with haze, crawling toward a door filled with light. Marcus came through the door and put a shell in his chest. The second was wearing a New York Yankees hat, lying against a wall in a bedroom. He had a gun in his hand but couldn’t gather the strength to lift it. Marcus kicked the gun away. The banger’s eyes fluttered open. Marcus closed them for good.
Ray Ray had told them to hit the Six Aces where they lived. Burn ’em out. Bust ’em out. Then he told them how. Young ones came through with red paint first, marking an X on doors where leaders from the Aces slept. They were followed by teams of two, carrying cans of gasoline and nail guns. One would soak the stairwells and rugs. The other nailed the doors and windows shut. The first would toss a match. Then they’d sit on the curb and watch the building burn until it put itself out. They’d listen for screams, try to guess who was who. Marcus’s job was to shoot anyone who made it to the street. When the rubble had cooled, he’d do a final walk-through. Finish off the ones inside.
Marcus slipped the mask they’d given him up on his head and wiped his face. His hand ached. He kept it cradled close to his chest and scooted through a lot full of wind and weeds. Ray Ray should have killed him when he had the chance. Instead, he broke Marcus’s fingers and gave him a shotgun. The boy racked another shell, one handed, into the chamber and wondered about that.
