Matthew Reilly - Area 7

door leading out to the lake."

Brainiac asked, "Why would he open those three

doors?"

"You open the Emergency Exit Vent to let your companions

in. To help you steal the booty," Schofield said.

"And the other two doors?"

"You open them so all of you can get out."

"So why cut the power?" Gant asked.

"To disable the security cameras," Schofield said.

"Whoever did this didn't want the Air Force people to see

him doing it."

"See him doing what?" Brainiac said.

Schofield exchanged a look with Gant.

"See him taking the boy," he said.

"Quickly," Schofield said to Herbie, "can you find out

who operator number 008-72 is?"

"Sure." Herbie began typing fast.

A moment later, he said, "Got it." A list appeared on his

screen. Schofield scanned the list until he found the entry he

was looking for:

008-72

BOTHA, GuntherW.

"Who's Gunther Botha?" Schofield asked.

"Son of a bitch," a voice said from behind them.

It was the President. He stepped up behind Schofield's

shoulder.

"Botha," he spat. "I should have known."

"south african scientist, working here on the vaccine,"

the President said. "You make a deal with the Devil, and it

comes back to bite you in the ass."

"Why would he want to take the boy?"

"The Sinovirus kills both white people and black people,

Captain," the President said. "Only people of Asian origin

are safe from it. That boy, however, has been genetically

designed to be a universal vaccine, for both blacks and

area 7 205

whites. But if only white people are given the vaccine, then

only white people would survive an outbreak of the

Sinovirus. And if Botha is working for who I think he's

working for ..."

"So what do we do now?" Herbie said.

"We go after the boy," Schofield said instantly. "And we--"

"No, you do not, Captain," Hot Rod Hagerty said, appearing

suddenly behind Schofield. "You will stay here and

you will guard the President."

"But ..."

"In case you haven't been paying attention, if the President

dies, so does America. One little boy can wait. I think

it's time you got your priorities straight, Captain Schofield."

"But we can't just leave him--"

"Yes, we can, and yes we will," Hagerty said, his face

reddening. "In case you have forgotten, Captain, I am your

superior officer, and I am now ordering you to obey me. The

United States government pays me to do the thinking for

you. So this is what you will think: your country is more important

than the life of one little boy."

Schofield didn't move a muscle. "I wouldn't want to

live in a country that leaves a little boy to die ..."

Hagerty's eyes blazed. "No. From now on, you will do

as I say, how I say, and when I say--"

The President himself seemed about to interfere when

Schofield stepped forward, right in front of Hagerty.

"No, sir" he said firmly, "I will not follow you. Because

if you'd waited for me to finish what I was going to say earlier,

you would have heard me say: 'We go after the boy, and

we take the President with us.' Because in case you haven't

been paying attention, that Botha guy and whoever's with

him opened up an exit to this place! They've given us a way

out."

Hagerty fell silent, grinding his teeth.

"Now, if you don't mind," Schofield said, "and if nobody

else has any better ideas, what do you say we all get

the hell out of this place?"

UP IN THE CONTROL ROOM OVERLOOKING THE MAIN HANGAR,

Caesar Russell's four radio operators were working overtime.

"--main power's down, no cameras operational at all.

All systems running on auxiliary power supply--"

"--Sir, someone's initiated the lockdown release codes.

The western X-rail door has been opened--"

"Who?" Caesar Russell asked pointedly.

The console operator frowned. "It looks like it was Professor

Botha, sir."

"Botha," Caesar said quietly. "How predictable."

"Sir," another operator said, "I have movement on the

X-rail system. Someone heading westward toward the

canyons--"

"Oh, Gunther. You couldn't help yourself, could you?

You're trying to snatch the boy," Caesar smiled sadly.

"What's the ETA on that X-rail train at the lake?"

"Forty miles of track at one hundred and seventy miles

per hour. About fourteen minutes, sir."

"Get Bravo down to Level 6 on the double, to pursue

Botha on the X-rail. Then open the top door and send Charlie

out in the AH-77's to cut him off at the lake--we'll get

him from in front and behind. Now go. Go. Although Gunther

could never know it, we need that boy. This will all be

for nothing if we don't have that child."

schofield, mother, gant and book II flew down the

fire stairs at full speed.

area 7 207

Schofield ran with his Desert Eagle held out in front of

him. The Football now dangled from his waist, its hand-grip

attached to a clip on his 7th Squadron combat webbing.

Behind them came the President and Juliet, Herbie the

scientist, Hot Rod Hagerty and Nicholas Tate. Bringing up

the rear were Elvis and Brainiac, carrying Love Machine between

them.

They came to the Level 6 doorway. Frank Cutler's

bloodied and broken body still lay on the floor beside it.

"Be careful," Juliet said to Schofield as he put his hand

on the doorknob. "This was where they got us before."

Schofield nodded.

Then--quickly, silently--he whipped open the door,

and took cover.

There was no sound.

No gunshots went off.

No bullets whistled into the stairwell.

"Holy Christ!" Mother said, as she looked beyond the

doorway.

THE MASSIVE AIRCRAFT ELEVATOR LUMBERED DOWN THE

shaft.

On its back, amid the pieces of the destroyed AWACS

plane, stood the ten men of Bravo Unit. They were moving

down through the complex, heading for Level 6, in pursuit

of Gunther Botha and the boy.

The gigantic elevator platform rumbled down the shaft,

the dirty gray concrete walls sliding past the Bravo Unit men.

They swung by Level 3, moving downward ... then

Level 4 ... then--

--the elevator platform plunged into water.

As it came to Level 5, the cell block level, the elevator

platform rushed down into a wide body of water that had

formed at the bottom of the shaft. Several tons of water immediately

gushed onto the platform, slithering in among the

pieces of the crumpled AWACS plane.

"Goddamn!" the leader of Bravo Unit, Boa McConnell,

exclaimed as the water rushed up to his waist.

He reached for his radio mike.

"--bravo unit reports substantial flooding on level 5.

It's starting to fill the main elevator shaft. Only access to

Level 6 is via the eastern fire stairs or the western ventilation

shaft. Bravo is going for the ventilation shaft--"

"--Sir. That enhanced satellite image of the Emergency

Escape Vent is coming through now."

A sheet of high-gloss paper edged out of a nearby

printer. A radio operator tore it clear, checked the time code

area 7 209

at the top. "This one's from ten minutes ago. Another one

coming through--what the fuck--?"

"What is it?" Caesar Russell said, taking the printout

from the operator. Russell recalled the subject of the satellite

scans: the twenty-four rodlike objects that had been picked

up on the infrared satellite earlier, the ones that had been

fanned out in a wide circle around the EEV.

Caesar's eyes narrowed.

The enhanced satellite image showed a few of the