End Game (Will Robie 5)

Chapter

77

DIRT, DUST, OMINOUS creaks of

support beams.

Then part of the roof caved in, making a thunderous noise and filling the room with more smoke, dust, and debris.

Robie opened one eye and looked around at a world that seemed turned upside down. Something heavy was on top of him. When he struggled to turn on his side the weight lessened and then fell away altogether.

He was looking at the body of Patti Bender. The explosion must have thrown them together, with her body landing on top of him.

Robie slowly regained his footing and looked around at the devastated space.

The bomb must have been in the room somewhere.

As his reason returned he became panicked.

Reel?

Blue Man?

He heard a moan and raced toward it.

Under a desk and a metal file cabinet he found Reel, bruised and bloody but alive.

“Blue Man?” she said as she got to her feet with his assistance.

“Don’t know.”

They frantically searched the room until they found him.

He was alive, but the gray tinge on his features told him that it would not be for long.

And then they heard another sound and looked up.

Fresh cracks were appearing in the ceiling. In other spots where the ceiling had already given in, they could see rock behind it.

“The whole thing’s starting to cave in,” said Reel. “When they said they were moving their operation, I didn’t take it to mean they were going to bury what was here.”

Robie helped Blue Man to his feet.

“Take him out of here, quick as you can.”

“Me? Where are you going?”

“Malloy,” he said, before turning away and hurtling over debris toward the door they had come through.

“Robie!” cried out Reel, but he had already passed through the door.

Reel turned, and with Blue Man leaning on her made her way to the exit door.

Robie double-timed it down several flights of stairs even as the facility shuddered and creaked around him. Breathing hard, he burst into the room where they had left Malloy.

It didn’t take him long to find her. She was lying on the floor behind the pile of metal Reel had used as a shield. She was bound hand and foot with a cloth over her nose and mouth.

Robie knelt down next to her and took off the cloth. He saw blood on her neck. When he examined it more closely he saw the cut there. He instantly knew what Patti had done.

She’s nicked the carotid. Slow death.

Malloy was not conscious. Robie lifted her off the floor and carried her up the stairs. As soon as he cleared them, the space gave a long shudder and a section of the stairs fell away.

He redoubled his efforts, racing up the next two flights of stairs and down the long hall until he reentered the space where the drugs had been manufactured.

He carried Malloy over to the door.

“R-Robie?”

He looked down. Malloy was awake now and staring up at him.

“Just stay quiet. We’re getting out of here.”

Her face was deathly pale.

Robie had used the cloth to wrap the wound, but she needed medical attention or she was going to die.

And even if they got out of here it was a long way to a hospital.

Blue Man and Malloy were probably going to expire before they could get help. And there was nothing he could do about it.

But he was still going to try.

He edged open the door and slipped through.

“Get on!”

It was Reel. She had loaded Blue Man onto the golf cart.

Robie ran forward and sat down in the rear-facing seat while still holding Malloy.

“I told you to get out of here,” Robie snapped.

“And I decided on a different course,” she snapped right back. “How’s Malloy?”

“Not good. Patti cut into her carotid.”

“Shit!”

Reel punched the accelerator and they rocketed forward.

The tunnel fortunately did not collapse on them. At the other end they got off and hustled as fast as they could to the exit door. From the inside it only required the turning of a crank.

After hurrying down the passage they were out in the open air.

“They said they got rid of the vehicles,” called out Reel, who was supporting Robie. “Can we find some way to call for help?”

“What the hell is that?” said Robie.

They heard the whump-whump, and then felt the prop wash as the large chopper descended.

They backed away to allow the skids to hit the dirt. The door to the aircraft opened.

“Agent Sanders?” cried out Reel.

It was indeed FBI Special Agent Dwight Sanders. He was dressed in cammies with a bulletproof vest.

He grinned at them, but that grin quickly faded when he saw Blue Man and Malloy.

“They need medical attention, fast!” screamed Robie.

Sanders and two other men jumped out and raced over. They carried Blue Man into the chopper while Robie hustled over to it, still carrying Malloy.

“Got room for all of us in this bird?” shouted Reel over the roar of the chopper’s blades.

“You bet we do,” Sanders shouted back.

They loaded everyone into the chopper.

Sanders called out to the pilot, “We got two badly wounded. Hit it fast to the hospital. I’ll call ahead. We can land right on the roof.”

They lifted off and the chopper turned around and hurtled across the dark sky.

“Wait a minute,” barked Robie. “Hit that with your light.” He pointed down at a vehicle that was moving fast around the far lip of the quarry and had nearly reached the road leading down.

One of the crewmen activated a spotlight and shined it on the vehicle