Matthew Reilly - Area 7

their eyes widened.

"HE can't be serious," python breathed, as he watched

his men leap off the roof of the moving airplane as it careered

toward the open doorway.

IN THE COCKPIT OF THE SPEEDING PLANE, SCHOFIELD WAS

strapping on his seat belt. As he did so, he keyed the intercom

switch.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.

Find a chair and buckle up tight, because we're about to take

off."

BACK IN THE MAIN CABIN, GANT AND THE OTHER TWO MARINES

spun to look forward.

Through the AWACS's cabin, they could see all the way

through to the cockpit--could see the open elevator shaft

looming ahead of them, rapidly approaching.

"Is he thinking what I think he's thinking?" Gant said to

Mother.

Mother paused before she spoke. "Yes, he is."

They leapt as one for the nearest available seats and

clutched desperately for the seat belts.

the converted boeing 707--deprived of its entire tail

section--thundered across the wide subterranean hangar

bay, the wet concrete floor rushing by beneath it, heading

straight for the open elevator shaft.

And then, before anyone could even hope to stop it, the

plane shot through the doorway and tipped off the edge and

fell down into the shaft, disappearing from view.

the AWACS plane soared down the elevator shaft

fast--nose-first--looking like a crazed kamikaze fighter.

Down the wide concrete shaft it went--down, down,

down--before it crashed, loudly, on the massive hydraulic

elevator platform resting on Level 4, one hundred and eighty

feet below.

The nose of the AWACS plane crumpled instantly as it

thundered into the elevator platform. Loose parts flew everywhere,

blasting outward like shrapnel. Two of the plane's jet

engines bounced high into the air as they smashed into the

platform.

The plane itself, however, seemed to teeter on its broken

nose for an eternity. And then, with a loud metal-on-metal

groan, like a slow-falling California redwood, it fell, landing

with a colossal thump on its left-hand wing, snapping the

wing in an instant, before the whole ruined aircraft slammed

down against the elevator platform with a resounding boom.

inside the AWACS plane, the world was tilted forty-five degrees to the left.

Mother, Gant and Brainiac all sat comically in their

seats, strapped in, but hanging dramatically to the side. They

were starting to unbuckle themselves from their seat belts

when Schofield hurried into the main cabin from the cockpit.

"Come on," he said, helping Mother with her belt, "we

can't stay here. They'll be down soon."

"Where are we going?" Gant asked, as she dropped out

of her seat and stood up.

Area 7 123

Schofield pursed his lips. "We have to find the President."

"--jesus! he just drove the plane off the fucking

edge--"

"--Charlie and Echo Units, initiate pursuit--"

"--President is on Level 5, heading into the confinement

area. Delta Unit, you are free to enter the animal quarters--"

"--Copy that, Bravo leader. Yes, they're in the water at

the bottom of the shaft. Good idea--"

"What's Boa doing?" Caesar Russell asked. Captain

Bruno "Boa" McConnell was in command of Bravo Unit,

one of the Five Snakes.

"He's on top of the personnel elevator, sir. He's going to

lower the elevator down the shaft. Drown the bastards. And

if they try to crawl up the sides, shoot them dead."

BOOK II AND THE OTHERS HOVERED IN THE EVER-DEEPENING

pool of water at the base of the regular elevator shaft.

The super-heavy rain of water blasted down all around

them. It showed no sign of stopping and the elevator shaft

was flooding rapidly, the water level rising fast, lifting them

to the nearest pair of outer doors.

And then abruptly, above the roar of falling water, a

loud clunking noise echoed down the shaft, followed by the

hum of mechanical movement.

Book II looked upwards---just as the rain of water

stopped.

Well, sort of stopped. Now it started raining down the

sides of the shaft, covering the counterweight cables with a

curtain of gushing water.

"What's happening?" Love Machine said.

And then Book II saw it.

Saw a shadow superimposed on the darkness above

them--a box-shaped shadow, growing larger and larger as it

came closer and closer.

124 Matthew Reilly

"What is that?" Calvin Reeves said.

"Oh, damn ..." Book II breathed. "It's the elevator."

THE PERSONNEL ELEVATOR EDGED ITS WAY DOWN THE SHAFT,

water pounding onto its roof and cascading off its sides.

High above it, in the open doorway up on ground level,

two 7th Squadron snipers lay with night-scoped rifles at the

ready, aimed down into the shaft.

Their guns were trained on the roof of the elevator,

waiting for anyone to emerge from the gaps on either side of

the lift, the only points where the enemy could climb out

from underneath the downward-moving elevator.

"Nor nice," book II said flatly. "Nor nice."

Either they drowned as the elevator pushed them under

the surface, or they climbed up the sides of the lift, where no

doubt, the bad guys would be waiting ...

He looked quickly at the pair of outer doors two feet

above him. They had a large "5" painted on them.

Level 5.

He wondered what was on this level, then decided he

didn't care. These doors were the only way out. Period.

He hauled himself out of the water, stood on his toes on

the edge of the doorway. A curtain of water poured down

onto his head.

Like all the other outer doors in this elevator shaft, he

saw, these two were closed tight, air-sealed.

The elevator above him continued its descent, moving

slowly and steadily downward.

The rising water reached the base of the doorway,

splashed against his boots, moving equally steadily upward.

Calvin Reeves appeared at his side. "How the hell do

we open these doors, Sergeant?"

Book guessed that the doors' release mechanism was

contained somewhere within the wall.

"I can't see it!" he shouted back. "It must be hidden inside

the wall!"

area 7

125

The elevator was close now, looming one floor above

them, grinding inexorably downward.

Water continued to pour.

And then Book II saw it--a thick insulated cable running

out from the concrete wall to the right of the doors and down into the pool of water beneath him.

"Of course!" he yelled. An emergency release lever wouldn't be on this level. It would be situated either above or below the floor, so that the doors could be opened when the elevator was stopped here.

Without so much as a second thought, Book II took a

deep breath and dropped into the pool of water beneath him.

silence.

The eerie quiet of the underwater world.

Book II swam downwards, his fingers feeling their way

along the thick black cable attached to the concrete wall.

After about nine feet, he came to a steel utility box sunk

into the wall. He opened it, felt for a lever, found a row of

six, and yanked the fifth one.

He immediately heard a sharp shoosh! from somewhere

above him--the sound of a pressure door being released.

He swam upward, fast. Came to the surface, broke it--

"--book! quickly! come on!" were the first words he

heard.

He'd come up a few feet away from the now-opened

doors and immediately saw Calvin Reeves and Elvis standing

up on level ground. Love Machine clung to the edge of