“What?” Desperation tightened Derek’s response.
“There’s a tunnel under the floor.” Simon spotted the demon with the pistol, pulled up the Spike Bolter, and opened fire.
The palladium needles drove the demon backward in stumbling steps.
“If we can use a shaped charge and blow through the floor, we might be able to escape.”
Blood and other matter covered the concrete floor. Footing was treacherous. Still, the Templar had managed to press out from the vault where they’d been trapped. There wasn’t much in the way of cover, a few support pillars and discarded equipment the size of cars all the way down to small crates.
“I’ve got a map,” Simon said.
“Send it,” Derek replied.
Simon did, continuing to fight for his life. He couldn’t tell if the demons were still coming through the chimney, but there were more than enough on hand already to do the job.
“Higgins,” Derek called.
“Yes,” the man replied.
“I need a shaped charge. Place it where the map is marked.”
Even as Simon fired his Spike Bolter, he took note of Derek’s choice. The spot was behind their present position, midway to the vault room they’d vacated.
“When we get into the tunnel,” Simon said, “we’re going south. To the river. There should be a door.”
“If it hasn’t been mortared closed,” Mercer replied. “If a new dock hasn’t been built over it. If a ship’s not sitting on it.”
“Either way,” Wertham said, “we’re going to die. At least this gives us a chance.”
“You were supposed to be working on the door,” Mercer yelled.
“The door’s jammed,” Wertham said. “I think those people upstairs had had enough of us and locked us in. The door didn’t get opened under power. It’s a system of counterweights. It wouldn’t have taken much to sabotage it.”
“You shouldn’t have stopped trying,” Mercer yelled.
“I came down here to fight with my mates,” Wertham said.
“Shut up and hold the perimeter,” Derek said. “Get grenades ready.”
Simon looked around the room. They’d made a wall of dead demons, creating harsh ground to cross if the demons wanted to continue the fight. For the moment, the demons had backed off and were continuing to fire from a distance. The Templars proved their superior marksmanship, though, and it was evident that the demons’ only real edge lay in numbers.
“They’re massing to attack again,” Wertham said.
“Steady,” Derek said. “Hold the grenades till I tell you different, then we throw toward the mass of them.”
“What about the Cabalists?” Mercer growled.
Simon checked his HUD and saw that the Cabalists remained within the vault. The black man with the lizard-scale arm stood near the doorway. The woman stood at his side. The tall man hunkered on the other side of the opening. Few of them were left.
Something about the black man’s gaze bothered Simon, but there wasn’t time to think about it. The demons were massing and readying for another charge.
“Wertham?” Derek asked.
“I’m ready.” Wertham grabbed the body of a nearby dead demon and used it to smother the shaped charge. Two more bodies were quickly added. “Just to make sure the explosion heads in the right direction.”
“Grenades!” Derek yelled.
As one, the Templar threw the grenades, lobbing them into the mass of demons. Most of the creatures were too dull-witted or inexperienced to know what the grenades were, but there were some that dove for cover.
Simon threw himself flat, hugging the blood-covered floor. His heart pounded and he knew he needed to get himself in hand before the armor kicked in and controlled his fear for him.
“Wertham!” Derek shouted over the blasts. “Now!”
The grenades went off first, shooting out fierce blue light from the Greek Fire contained inside. Traditional grenades wouldn’t have done much, but the deadly concoction of chemicals in the Templar munitions did a great deal of damage.
Simon glanced up, his HUD automatically filtering the bright light. The detonations broke the demons’ ranks and hurled them in all directions. But several of them were on fire now, covered in a nimbus of blue-white flames that ate their flesh and cracked their bones. A Blood Angel went down like a blazing comet and didn’t move.
Then the shaped charge went off, blowing the bodies of the demons that Wertham had stacked atop it up against the ceiling. Simon felt the seismic reaction even through the armor. The floor shifted beneath him.
Checking the HUD, looking back without turning his head, Simon saw that a large hole had opened up in the floor. Smoke poured from the opening as pieces of demon dropped from the ceiling.
“We’re through,” Wertham said. “There’s a tunnel below.”
“Go!” Derek ordered. “Wertham, you’ve got point. Move!”
The demons gathered themselves and charged, obviously sensing that something had changed.
“Pistols,” Derek shouted. “Hold them off till we get clear. Fall back and withdraw.”
On his feet and firing, Simon noticed the gaping hole in the floor. The cargo tunnel was eight feet in diameter, providing plenty of room for a forklift to handle shipments leaving the factory for the warehouses. It was black as night inside, but night vision ripped the darkness away.
One by one, in quick succession, the Templar dropped down into the hole.
Derek turned to the Cabalists. “If you want out of here, now’s the time.”
The Cabalists fled. Two of the security men went down from the demons’ weapons, one hit by what looked like a bolt of lightning and the other engulfed in flames that left only his blackened shadow on the wall.
A female Templar next to Simon went down, part of the armor blown from her right leg. He helped her up and got her moving toward the hole.
Seize Balekor’s Hammer! Merihim’s voice thundered inside Warren’s head. Get it now!
Warren couldn’t believe the demon was demanding that now, when the other demons were rushing their position and escape was so close to hand. The Templar were trying to help save the Cabalists. Trying to get Balekor’s Hammer, even if he failed and he honestly didn’t
