The blast deafened Kate and flattened the crowd, pressing a half dozen people into her. She sucked hard for a breath, but none would come. They were crushing her, suffocating her. She punched, twisted, and heaved her head back. It was raining. No — debris falling. And then water, a huge flood of water into the room, and she was free, floating, drifting with the massive tidal wave that swept her over the jagged half wall that had sealed the death room.
Kate inhaled sharply. The breathe hurt but it was a relief. At that moment, she had two thoughts: I’m alive, and David must have saved me.
CHAPTER 60
Dorian Sloane motioned for Dr. Chang to put on one of the helicopter’s headsets.
Below them, another explosion rocked the complex, causing the helicopter to shudder then bank slightly away from it.
The second Chang’s headphones covered his ears, Dorian started in. “What the hell happened?”
“The Bell, some kind of problem.”
“Sabotaged?”
“No, or, I don’t think so. Everything was nominal, power, radiation output, but it… malfunctioned.”
“Impossible.”
“Look, we still don’t completely understand how it works, and it’s, you know, old, over 100,000 years old, and we’ve been using it non-stop for about 80 years—”
“This is not a warranty issue, Doctor. You need to figure out what happened—”
Another man broke onto the line. “Sir, there’s a call from the facility, the security chief, he says it’s urgent.”
Dorian tore off his headset and grabbed the sat phone. “What?”
“Mr. Sloane, we have another problem.”
“Don’t call me and tell me we have a problem. It’s quite apparent we have problems. Tell me what the fuck the problem is and quit wasting my time.”
“Oh course, I’m sorry—”
“What? Tell me!”
“The Bell room. It exploded. We think radiation could have escaped.”
Dorian’s mind raced. If the bodies — or even radiation — had escaped from the Bell room, he could still salvage Toba Protocol. He just had to sell it to the people on the ground.
“Sir?” the security chief said tentatively. “I’m initiating a quarantine per our SOPs, I just wanted to confirm—”
“No. We’re not establishing a quarantine—”
“But my orders—”
“Have changed. As has the situation. We need to rescue our people, Chief. I want you to devote all your resources to getting everyone onto the trains and away from the facilities. And put the bodies on the trains too. Their families deserve the right to bury them.”
“But won’t there be an outbreak—”
“You worry about getting those people on the trains. I’ll take care of the rest. There are factors you’re not aware of. Call me when the last train is away. Immari is a family. We don’t leave anyone behind. You understand me?”
“Yes sir, we won’t leave a single soul behind—”
Dorian disconnected the line and put his headset back on. He turned to Dmitry Kozlov, the Immari Security officer sitting across from him. “Did Chase get out with the nukes and children?”
“Yes, they’re on their way to the coast.”
“Good.” Dorian thought for a moment. They would get bodies from the Bell — that was the good news. But the explosions at the facility would draw attention. If the world found out what was at the site… 5,000 years of their work, of well-kept secrets… would all be lost, as would the Immari. “Launch drones from Afghanistan. As soon as the last train leaves, blow the facility.”
CHAPTER 61
David felt them lift him up and carry him like a rag doll. Around him, he saw a war zone: sirens blared, white dust floated through the air like snow, fires belched black smoke, and voices shouted in Chinese. He watched it all through half closed eyes as if it were a dream.
Over the load speaker, a recording repeated “Reactor core breach. Evacuate. Evacuer. Evakuieren…” The voice faded, and David felt sunlight on his face. The men tossed him about as they carried him over the rough ground.
“Stop! Let me take a look.” A man was in his face. Someone with a white coat. Blonde. 40s-ish. British. He grabbed David’s face and pulled at his eyelids, then looked him up and down, inspecting the wounds. “No, he won’t make it.” The man pointed to the ground and drew a hand across his throat. “Put him down. Get someone else.” He motioned to the building. The Chinese workers dropped him like a sack of rotten potatoes and ran back toward the building.
From the ground, David watched the man run over to another group holding a body pulled from the rubble. He perused her briefly. “Yes, she’ll make it.” He gestured toward the train, and the men carried the woman the remaining twenty feet, tossing her into a car where other workers dragged her in.
The white coat turned to another group. “Supplies? On the train. Hurry.”
The train. Twenty feet to freedom. But David couldn’t move.
CHAPTER 62
Kate arrived just as the passenger train pulled away. She ran after it, her legs burning as she pushed herself until she was lightheaded and the train was half a football field away.
She stood there, bent over, her hands on her knees, panting as the rhythmic chug-chug-chug of the train faded into the vast green forest.
The children were on that train. She knew it, somewhere, somehow, in a place she couldn’t identify. They were out of reach. And she was in over her head. The device, this place; in that moment, she felt utterly defeated.
She looked around. There wasn’t another train. The train ride in was almost an hour through nothing but dense forest. She couldn’t walk out, and she had another problem: it was getting colder. She needed shelter, but how long could she hide here before some Immari security officer found her?
Another thought broke into her mind: David. Would he be looking for her? His blasts had done a number on the buildings. He was probably on that train, assuming she was too. Was he searching every car, expecting to find her sitting with the children? What would he do when he couldn’t find her? She knew what the Immari would do if they captured her.
She glanced back at the burning Immari complex. It was her only option.
Another train horn. Kate spun around, searching. Where had it come from? She twisted again, desperately trying to find the direction. It had to be on the other side of the campus. She set off running, her lungs now burning from the cold and the impact in the Bell room.
She reached the medical building just as the train horn sounded again. She put her head down and charged through the chaos inside. The rear door of the facility opened onto a small courtyard that led to the power plant, which had clearly taken most of the damage. It was a smoking, crumbling ruin. Two of the huge vase-like smoke stacks had toppled completely. The train whistle called again — it was coming from the other side of the building. Kate ran with all the strength she could muster. Another explosion in the power plant filled the air, almost knocking her over. She steadied herself and plowed on.
As she cleared the side of the power building, she saw it — a cargo train. Workers were tossing supplies and bodies through the wide sliding doors as the train rolled slowly by, allowing them to spread the load among the cars.
Seeing the carnage outside the power plant forced another thought into Kate’s mind: what if David didn’t make it out? He could still be inside. Or on the train. She could see people inside the empty cargo cars, hovering over bodies. David could be one of them. She would search the train, before it got away, then the power plant. She wouldn’t leave without him.
Behind her, Kate heard a voice she knew. The British doctor. Barnaby Prendergast?
She ran to him. “Barnaby, have you seen—” But he was focused on a body. He ignored Kate and yelled at a group of Chinese security guards standing nearby. Kate grabbed him by the lapels of his sodden white coat and turned him around. “Barnaby, I’m looking for a man, a security guard, blonde, 3
0s—”
“You!” Barnaby tried to pull away, but Kate held him tight. When he took in Kate’s appearance, her blood soaked clothes and seeming lack of any wounds, he staggered backward and tried to break her hold. “You did this!” He waved to one of the security guards. “Help! This woman is an impostor, a terrorist, she did this, someone help me!”
People stopped what they were doing and looked over. Several security people began walking toward Kate.
Kate released Barnaby and looked around. “He’s lying! I didn’t—” But the guards kept coming. She had to get out of here. She scanned the platform for an exit, a—
Then she saw David, lying there, not moving, his eyes closed, his body resting awkwardly on the debris-ridden concrete platform. Alone. Dying. Or dead?
Kate sprinted over to him and inspected his wounds. Gunshots. His chest, his shoulder, his leg. What had happened to him? The wounds were bad, but something bothered Kate even more: they were hardly bleeding. A chill ran through her and the pit of her stomach seemed to drop.
She had to keep going. She scanned the rest of him. His clothes were in tatters, a litany of burn marks and shrapnel holes dotted his legs and torso, but nothing as major as the gunshots. She needed—
She felt a hand on her shoulder — a security guard, then another one, three of them were on her. She had blocked everything out when she saw David. They grabbed her by the arms and stood her up. Barnaby was behind them, pointing and cheering the mob on, “I tried to stop her!”
Kate struggled at the security guard’s grip, but he pulled her in tight. Her hand was at his side, on his gun. She ripped at it, but it wouldn’t come free. She twisted it again with all her might and she heard a pop; she had it. But they still held her so tight, all three were on her, dragging her to the ground. She pointed toward the air and squeezed the trigger. The gun almost flew out of her hand, but the men scattered and Barnaby scampered away in full retreat, looking back nervously before putting his head down and charging on.
Kate held the gun out from her, waving it left and right as the men held up their hands and backed away. Her hand shook badly, and she braced it with her other hand. She glanced behind her. The train — it was almost gone now, the last people on the platform had fled into the three remaining cars, which would soon be gone.
“Put him on the train.” She commanded the guards. They kept backing away. Kate pointed the gun at David, then the train. “On. Now.” She backed away from David, giving the men space. They picked him up and carried him to the car, placing him right on the edge. Kate kept the gun on them as she paced to a clump of medical supplies scattered across the ground, no doubt dropped by the frightened workers. What was the priority? Antibiotics. Something to clean and close the wound. She couldn’t save him, but she could try, if only for her own sake.
The guards were running away now and the train was moving faster, away from the building. Kate started to tuck the gun in her waistband, but she stopped and eyed it. Was it still cocked? The hammer was back. She’d probably blow her leg off. She placed it carefully on the ground and gathered as many supplies as she could hold and ran for the train. A few boxes tumbled off the stack onto the ground, but she kept going. She could barely keep pace with the train. She tossed the supplies on; a few hit the edge of the car and bounced down. She grabbed the handle at the door and jumped, landing on her stomach, her legs dangling off. She pulled herself into the car and watched as first the platform disappeared, then the power plant.
She crawled over to David. “David? Can you hear me? You’re going to be ok.”
She reached over and began sorting through the paltry pile of supplies.
CHAPTER 63
David turned in horror as the building collapsed, engulfing him in concrete, dust, and iron. He felt the rubble press in around him, crushing him, grinding into his wounds. He breathed dust and soot, listening to the screams, some close, some distant. And he waited. For how long he didn’t know. Then they were there, pulling him out.
“We got you. Don’t try to move, buddy.”
FDNY. They pulled and dug out around him. They called for a stretcher, strapped him to it, and carried him over the uneven ground. Sunlight bathed his face.
A female doctor pulled his eyelids back and shined a light over him, then tied something around his leg.
“Can you hear me?” She worked at his leg some more, then returned to his face. “Your leg was crushed and there’s a large laceration in your back, but you are going to be ok. Do you understand?”
Kate tied off the wounds to David’s leg and shoulder, but it wouldn’t matter — there wasn’t much blood flow to stop. He already felt cold.
She told herself it was just the cold wind blowing in through the door to the car. The train was moving fast now, much faster than the one coming in. The sun was setting and the temperature was dropping. She stood and struggled with the metal sliding door. She couldn’t close it at this speed.
She collapsed back to the floor, took David by the arm and dragged him to the corner, as far away from the door as she could get. She’d given him a shot of antibiotics and cleaned the wounds as best she could. There was nothing left to do. She leaned back against the wall, pulled him into her lap, and put her legs around his to try to keep him warm. His listless head came to rest on her stomach and she ran a hand through his short hair. He was getting colder.
CHAPTER 64
Beyond the windows of the helicopter, the sun was setting on the Tibetan Plateau. Dorian tried to find the facility in the expanse of green forest. It was just a single column of gray and white smoke now, like a campfire in the untouched wilderness.
“The last train is away,” Dmitry said.
“Drones?” Dorian didn’t look away from the window or the column of smoke.
“30 minutes out.” When Dorian said nothing, the man continued, “What now?”
“Stop the trains. Catalog everyone, including the dead bodies. Make sure our men are in full quarantine gear.”
CHAPTER 65
Kate stared out into the black night. A sliver of a moon cast a small twinkle of light over the treetops that rushed by. Or had rushed by. The train was slowing. But there was nothing outside, just forest.
She slid David’s head out of her lap and walked to the door. She leaned out and looked toward the front of the train, then to the rear. They were in the last car and there was nothing on the tracks behind them. Kate turned to go back into the car, and she saw it — through the opposite door, on the track beside them, another train, sitting there as still and dark as the night, almost invisible. And there was something else: dark figures standing on the top of the train. Waiting for what?
The train stopped, and at almost the same instant, she heard the thunder of boots landing on the ceiling. Kate moved back into the shadow of the car just as the soldiers swooped in through the doorway like gymnasts rounding a high bar. They spread out in the room quickly, shining lights in her face and in every corner of the car. They snapped a zip line between the trains and pulled it to test the strength.
A man grabbed Kate, clipped onto the line, and launched out the door toward the second train. Kate looked back. David. But they had him too; another man, right behind her, held David to his chest with one arm like you might carry a sleeping child.
Kate’s captor led her into a dining car and shoved her into a booth. “Wait here,” he said in Chinese-accented English before turning to leave.
The other man brought David in and plopped him down on a couch. Kate rushed to him. He didn’t look any worse, but that wasn’t saying much. He didn’t have long.
Kate looked around. Maybe there was something she could use. The dining car was about 40 feet long, most of it dedicated to booths, but at the far end was a small bar with a soft-drink dispenser, glasses, and liquor.
Kate ran over to the bar and ransacked it. What was she even looking for? She needed a plan. What did David need? Blood. And to get the bullets out. Well, the bullet. The sh
ot to his shoulder had glanced off of him and the one in the leg had gone straight through. There was just one bullet — in his chest. It was buried pretty deep; it must have been the first shot that hit him. She had to face facts: she couldn’t get the bullet out; that would kill him for sure. That left giving him blood. And she could give him blood — Kate was O negative — the universal donor. If… she could get it inside him.
The train lurched, throwing Kate to the floor. They were moving. She got back to her feet as the train jerked forward in gasps and spurts, picking up speed. Out the window, she couldn’t see the other train, the cargo train they had been on. They were taking them in the other direction. Who were they? Kate didn’t care, not right now.
She continued searching the bar. A tube, or— the drink dispenser. She spun the cart around. Clear plastic tubes ran from the taps to black and yellow plastic bags. She ripped a tube out and sized it up. It could work, but the end was flat, it would never puncture a vein. She grabbed a knife and whittled at the end, sharpening it. Would it work? She ran around the car, surveying the rest of the “tools” she had to work with.
Fifteen minutes later, the tube ran from Kate’s arm to David’s. She pumped her fist. The blood flowed. She was so hungry. And sleepy. But she was doing something, and that felt very good.
CHAPTER 66
CNN Breaking News Bulletin // Blasts reported in Western China; Believed to be an industrial accident at an Immari International research facility; Details are still emerging.
CHAPTER 67
Kate awoke to the chime of bells drifting in through a large picture window above the alcove that held her small twin bed. A cool, crisp, clean mountain wind pushed the white linen drapes out over her bed, almost touching her face.