Chapter Twenty-Three
ANGEL SINCLAIR
“Cover me.” I slipped my foot onto the first rung and started to climb.
I was almost to the ceiling when there was a shout and an explosion of light below me. Wally was firing at someone who was firing at me. The sensor on my back lit up, but I didn’t stop climbing. My head hit the ceiling and I reached up, groping around for a way out. I could feel a seam, so there was a trapdoor of some kind above me. Using both hands, I pushed upward with all my strength. The door slammed open with so much force, I was certain everyone below could hear it. But the way the door opened also convinced me I’d been the first to find this exit.
I pulled myself up and rolled onto the floor before I got shot again. This floor was also dark, and the strobe lights were still flashing. No exit, but another level of play. I scrambled behind a rock with a perfect view of the trapdoor and waited to shoot whoever came through next. Unless it was Wally or Frankie. I’d protect them.
I glanced at my watch. We were low on time, and I was down to fifteen points.
A few seconds later, I heard someone shouting and the sound of clanging feet on the ladder. I expected Wally to pop up, but Jax appeared instead. He must have been expecting me to be waiting, because his gun came through first, firing wildly. Unfortunately, I ducked in the wrong direction and he scored a hit on my left shoulder. But as soon as his shoulders and chest appeared, I landed a perfect hit on his chest. He hit the floor and rolled behind a rock, swearing loudly.
Wally appeared moments later, breathing so loudly I knew it was him before I even saw his face. I kept my gun trained on where I’d last seen Jax, but Wally came through without incident. Jax’s chest plate would be lit up like a Christmas tree, so I figured he didn’t dare expose himself to another hit.
“Over here,” I hissed as Wally heaved himself onto the floor. He came to a crouch and waddled over to me, taking refuge behind a rock.
“You got hit,” Wally whispered.
“Twice,” I confirmed. “Someone got me on the way up, and then Jax scored a hit on me coming up. But I hit him back so I’m steady at fifteen points. How many do you have left?”
“Five.”
That wasn’t good. One more hit and Wally was out. I squinted at my watch. The strobe lights were giving me a headache. “We’ve got nine minutes to get out.”
“Maybe I should wait here and try to hit someone coming up to get more points.”
“Your call, but time isn’t our friend, Wally. I’d suggest sticking together and trying to find the exit.”
“But what if there’s another level of play after this one?”
“Three levels of play in fifteen minutes is ambitious, even for spies. But if there is, we’ll deal with it. I say we stay together.”
He looked once more at the trapdoor. No one had appeared. “Okay, let’s go.”
We searched a lot faster and a bit more recklessly. At this point in the game, speed was more important than caution. Time had become our number one enemy.
“Six minutes left and we’ve got nothing,” Wally whispered after we finished searching the wall and rocks on one side of the cavern and came up empty. “And we don’t know where Jax is.”
“He’s up here somewhere, along with the exit.” I bent down to check the lower part of a rock, then someone shot me. My vest lit up.
I whirled and shot in the direction of my attacker. I missed but saw Bo duck behind a rock.
“Get down,” I screamed at Wally as Bo shot in his direction.
I glanced over at Wally, sighing in relief when Wally’s vest stayed dark. One more hit and he’d have been out. Unfortunately, I hadn’t hit Bo, but at least we’d pinned him down behind a rock and the wall. That was good for us, because Bo was at a disadvantage as a result of his size. He wouldn’t be able to extract himself without exposing himself to us.
I moved toward Wally to regroup and stepped on something. A grinding noise filled the cavern, and a door slid open just behind Wally’s left shoulder.
The exit!
Wally whirled, staring at the opening, dumbfounded.
“Go,” I shouted, throwing myself forward and shoving him through the door. He stumbled across the exit, but I tripped and fell on my knees just as someone fired a volley at me. I rolled sideways several times, miraculously avoiding getting hit.
I expected it to be Bo, but Jax lifted a hand in a salute to me and launched himself through the door. Firing at the last second, I scored a direct hit on his back just before he went through. The bell rang again, signaling two players had now exited.
I rolled to my feet, looking around and breathing hard. I was now a good fifteen feet from the exit, and unfortunately, I’d lost Bo. I crouched low, keeping my gun out and moving back and forth as I carefully inched forward. I was about five feet away from the exit when I thought of Frankie. I hadn’t seen her since the game started.
Where the heck was she?
Maybe she had gotten shot too many times and was already out. Or maybe she was hiding. Either way, she’d never make it without help. I looked down at my watch. Four minutes and ten points. I could afford to take a look.
I changed direction and headed back to the trapdoor. The bell rang, signaling another player was through. Probably Bo.
The trapdoor to the level below was open and deserted. I had no idea who had come through and who hadn’t. I waited for a few seconds and crept toward the door.
Mike popped up from behind a rock and shot at me, but I moved sideways at the last second and it missed. Hala leaped out from an adjoining rock and hit Mike in the shoulder box. His vest lit up as they both sprinted away from me.
I checked the time. We had less than two minutes.
Throwing caution to the wind, I shouted down, “Frankie. Where are you?”
“Angel, is that you?”
“Yes! The exit is up here. There’s a ladder. You need to follow my voice to find it and climb it now.”
“I know. I’m on the ladder right now. But thank you for helping me. That’s really kind of you.”
“Will you stop being nice and move it?” I yelled.
I looked around but didn’t see anyone else.
“Hurry, Frankie!” I shouted as the seconds ticked past. “How many points do you have left?”
“Five,” she said.
She was puffing by the time she finally got to the top and I pulled her to her feet. We turned to run for the exit when a shot fired from the trapdoor. We dived for cover separately as Kira leaped through the trapdoor, rolled once, and shot me in the back.
My vest lit up, but my hand with the gun was steady. I fired and hit her on the shoulder. She fell, her gun slipping from of her hand and skittering a few feet away. I lifted my gun, ready to finish her off, when she held up her hands.
“No, don’t shoot,” she said. “Please, I only have five points left.”
“You didn’t ask me how many points I had before you shot me,” I pointed out.
Frankie stepped out from behind me. “Don’t shoot her, Angel. We can all go across together.”
“What?” I said incredulously. “You’re helping her? Why? She doesn’t even like you.”
As we were arguing, Kira rolled to her side, grabbed her gun, and aimed at Frankie’s back. Without thinking, I pushed Frankie out of the way and took the shot instead.
The laser gun went dead in my hand, and my chest plate turned from green to red.
Both Kira and Frankie stared at me, frozen in shock. After a moment, Kira scrambled to her feet and bolted for the exit.
“What did you just do?” Frankie shouted at me.
“I saved you. Run, Frankie. You can’t save me. I’m already dead. You have seventeen seconds to get out. Come on, let’s go.”
I pulled her to the exit, pushing her across. Half stumbling, she made it through just as a loud klaxon sounded and the lights abruptly came on.
Shielding my eyes against the sudden light, I walked out of the cavern and into a waiting room. Everyone stood staring at me, mouths agape. A glance at the wall showed a scoreboard on a television screen bolted to the wall. It flashed our final scores, including points made for accurate shots.
Wally had come in first, obviously helped by the bonus of finishing first, followed by Jax, Hala, Bo, Kira, Mike, and Frankie. The letters DNF were posted after my name. Did not finish.
Wally looked stricken. “Angel, what happened? Why didn’t you go through after me?”
“He shot at me,” I said, dipping my head toward Jax, who wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I had to take cover. Then I lost Bo’s position, so I was trying to be careful coming out.”
“That’s not all that happened,” Frankie interrupted. “She came back for me and then took a shot meant for me. It’s not fair. I should be the one who didn’t finish.”
“Angel, you should get extra points for finding both exits and the trap door,” Bo insisted. “None of us would have gotten out of there if you hadn’t found them.”
“I got lucky,” I said.
Bo raised an eyebrow. “Both times?”
We didn’t have time for more discussion because Mr. Donovan entered the room, congratulating us on the completion of our first trial. He avoided eye contact with me, which I took as a bad sign.
We filed out of the building, which thankfully we didn’t have to do blindfolded, and climbed on the bus. Instead of celebrating, everyone was quiet on the bus. A quick glance outside confirmed we’d been at an unmarked building on the UTOP campus.
I sat next to the window, looking out. Wally sat next to me, bumping shoulders with me, as if trying to cheer me up. I finally had to tell him to knock it off. I’m pretty sure he thought I was upset that I’d lost, but I wasn’t.
I was furious.
And I was completely done with Kira Romanova.