He brightened, then waved her on. “Go!”
After she got to the dark corridor, Victor gave her a thumb-up signal. He then stumbled around the corner. “Get help! My betrothed needs medical attention!”
She quietly snickered at his male bravado. It played out exactly as he’d planned it, too. He and the guards ran by the side hallway, anxious to ‘get help’ to where it was needed, leaving her alone to return to the elevators.
“Now, for a hasty good-bye,” she said to the elevator button as she arrived in the loading area. The doors parted as soon as she clicked it.
Once inside, she studied the round buttons for the other floors. The one at the top was labeled “OUT.” It wasn’t hard to figure out what it meant. The levels counted down from 3 to 1. She was on 1. The next lower level was 0. From there, the digits descended to minus four, though there was one last button with ‘LOW1’ on it.
The doors closed, though she still hadn’t picked a destination. Her hesitation stemmed from the placement of the guards. She couldn’t say for certain they were everywhere, but the one place they would absolutely be found was the topmost level. The exit. If she went to the top now, without a weapon to her name, she would be caught for sure.
I could hide.
As a child, hiding in the mine was one of the games she’d played with Mom and Dad. It gave her the idea of doing the same down in the bunker. She had some food and water. Spending days in a supply closet would be better than pretending to enjoy living with Victor or being trotted around by David. When the time was right, she’d find a real weapon, go to the surface, fight her way out, then go find help for Audrey and Peter.
Her internal clock warned her the guards would soon be back. Victor would have to explain why he’d needed help. Maybe they knew he’d faked it and were already on their way back to the elevator to catch her…
Her fast breathing was almost at panic level. A choice needed to be made.
“Going down.” She clicked the LOW1 button, causing the elevator to lurch into action. Once on the move, she leaned against the support bar, relieved no one had found her.
The LED lights above the door counted down to minus four, then went blank. The other floors ticked by quickly, leading her to wonder why she hadn’t reached the last one on the list. Several minutes of travel went by, and she sensed the machine had picked up speed as it went, but still a number didn’t appear.
“Uh oh,” she said to herself, wondering how far she was going. Visions of looking down the bottomless pit made her fear she’d somehow put herself on a course to its bottom. How long would it take to ride an elevator for ten miles? Didn’t David say something about not being able to go all the way down in one shot?
It took ten minutes, by her estimation, before the light finally came on.
“Thank God!” The elevator car decelerated and settled to a stop, followed by a long pause. She was dressed in her blue unitard, carrying a food bag over her shoulders, with nothing but fists for weapons. She was filled with a nervous electricity, as if she’d taken a wrong turn into a bad neighborhood. Whoever appeared outside the doors would never expect someone like her to come out swinging.
She balled her fists, ready for anything.
CHAPTER 18
Wheatland, WY
“I surrender!” Meechum shouted, louder than before. “I’m coming out!”
“We have multiple shooters watching you,” the man’s voice said in return. “Don’t try anything fancy.”
“I’m a US Marine,” she replied in a lower voice. “Don’t fire on me.”
Kyla listened to silence for a short time before the man spoke again, albeit in a more natural tone of voice, as if Meechum was closer to him. “You said you were with the US Marines. Why are you dressed like a Blackout?”
“I’m dressed like this because we snuck into one of your bases, hacked your servers, then got out without a scratch. We would have gotten away with it, too, but my team was killed in a traffic accident last night. Now, it’s just me.”
The man laughed. “If you really are a Marine, say something only a Marine would know.”
Kyla listened as her friend rattled off a series of curse words, each dirtier than the next. It would have been funny if she wasn’t in the process of giving herself up. Thinking she might be able to help, Kyla stuck her head up. However, she only saw the other woman’s cropped haircut. The men were still hidden.
The man laughed. “Yep, you check out. You’re definitely not with the invaders. What unit were you with, Marine?”
“Aren’t you with the invaders?” Meechum snarked.
“Hell no. We’re Americans, too. Why don’t you at least tell us what unit you were with.”
Meechum replied instantly. “F division, U brigade, sir.”
“Fair enough. You can come out of there. None of us are going to shoot, as long as you do it nice and easy. Then we’ll see what’s what.”
Kyla’s heart leapt, thinking it was all a trick. It wouldn’t be hard to fake being a real American so the battle-tested Marine would give herself up without a fight. As she watched, Meechum moved forward, out of her sight. As much as she wanted to defend her friend, caution made Kyla wait where she was. “Dang, this better not be a trap,” she whispered.
Two minutes later, Meechum called, “Dudette! We’re good. Come on out.”
She waited for a few seconds, wondering if they could have forced her to say the words, until she assured herself it was impossible. There was no way the Marine would give her up unless it was truly
