Matthew Reilly - Area 7

flying glass. Then he spun and peered out through the shattered

window beside him--

--and saw a phalanx of 7th Squadron commandos

come leaping out of the air vent at the far western end of the

platform, armed with P-90 rifles and a couple of devastating

six-barreled miniguns.

The miniguns whirred, spewing out an unbelievable

storm of bullets, pummeling the side of the rail car.

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Matthew Reilly

"You okay?" Schofield yelled to Juliet and the President,

his voice barely audible above the thunderous gunfire.

The President, now lying facedown on the floor, nodded

feebly in reply.

"Stay down!" Schofield called.

Abruptly, the X-rail engine beneath them roared to life.

Schofield snapped around to see Book II and Herbie in

the driver's compartment, flicking switches, pushing throttles.

The rail car's power system thrummed loudly, warming

up.

Let's go, Schofield thought anxiously. Let's go ...

And then suddenly a voice exploded in his earpiece: "Hey! Wait for us!"

It was Elvis.

elvis, brainiac and love machine were still out on the

platform.

Lagging behind the others under Love Machine's

weight, they hadn't been able to make it to the two connected

rail cars by the time the 7th Squadron commandos

had appeared at the other end of the underground station.

Now they were pinned down behind a concrete pillar,

only ten feet away from the rearmost door of the second rail car,

the area all around them shredded by the 7th Squadron's

brutal minigun fire.

"All right! We have to move! Get ready!" Elvis yelled.

"Okay, now!"

They burst out from their position. Bullets slammed

into the pillars all around them. Chunks of concrete flew

everywhere. Two bullets blasted clean through Elvis's left

shoulder.

"Come on, Love Machine, stay with us!" he yelled.

They reached the rear door of the second rail car, began

to shove Love Machine inside it when--

Smack!

Love Machine's head jolted violently to the left, snapping

at an unnatural angle, smacking hard against the side of

Elvis's shoulder.

area 7 215

"Oh, man," Brainiac said, seeing it. "No."

Elvis turned.

Love Machine's head lolled lifelessly against his shoulder,

a goopy syrup of brains and blood dripping slowly out

of a bullet hole in the back of it.

Love Machine was gone.

Elvis just froze, oblivious to his own wounds.

Brainiac said, "Elvis, come on. Get him inside. The

train's about to go."

Elvis didn't reply. He just looked at the lifeless body of

Love Machine, slumped against his shoulder.

"Elvis ..."

"Go," Elvis said softly, as bullets hit all around them.

He lowered Love Machine's body to the ground beside the

X-rail car. Then he looked Brainiac square in the eyes. "Go.

Now."

"What are you doing?" Brainiac said.

"I'm staying here with my friend."

And then Brainiac saw the sadness in Elvis's eyes--saw

Elvis look lethally over at the 7th Squadron men sidestepping

their way toward them from the far end of the platform.

Brainiac nodded. "Take care of yourself, Elvis."

"Never," Elvis said.

"brainiac! " schofield yelled, gun in hand, trying to see

what was happening at the back of the train without getting

his head blown off. "What's going on back there!"

Brainiac's voice said, "We lost Love Machine, sir, and

Elvis has ... oh, fuck!"

Just then, two loud puncturelike booms echoed out

through the underground station.

Thawump!

Thawump!

Schofield turned ...

—just in time to see two black baseball-sized grenades

come rocketing through the air toward him and the X-rail car!

They had been shot from a pair of M-203 grenade

launchers held by the 7th Squadron commandos.

The two high explosive rounds shot in through the

blasted-open windows of the lead X-rail car ... one entering

near the front of the car, right next to Schofield; the other

rocketing in through a broken window near the rear of the

car, near Gant and Mother and the President.

The grenade near Schofield bounced off the far wall and

spun to a halt on the floor a couple of yards away from him.

Schofield didn't waste a second.

He dived forward—toward the grenade, sliding across

the floor on his chest—and swiped the charge back out

through the open door of the railcar with his hand. The

grenade whipped across the hard floor of the carriage and

disappeared through the door. Schofield then ducked back

behind the wall as the grenade detonated outside, sending a

vicious ball of flames rushing in through the doorway.

area 7 217

AT THE OTHER END OF THE CARRIAGE, GANT AND MOTHER

weren't so lucky.

Their grenade had landed in among the passenger seats

that occupied the rear half of the carriage. There was no way

anyone could get to it before it detonated.

"Everybody! This way!" Gant said, yanking the President

to his feet and shoving him toward the accordion-like

tunnel that connected the two X-rail cars.

A glass door slid sideways as Gant pushed the President

through the passageway. Mother, Juliet, Hot Rod and Tate

clambered through behind them.

The glass door slid shut as a second connecting door

opened and Gant and the President dived through it--entering

the second rail car--and threw themselves sprawling to the

floor, closely followed by the others, just as the grenade in

the first rail car exploded brilliantly, spreading fire in every

direction, shattering the first connecting door, but only

cracking the second one, its flaming claws left to scratch

hungrily at the glass.

SCHOFIELD WAS THROWN TO THE GROUND BY THE BLAST OF

the second grenade.

He staggered to his feet, spoke into his radio mike:

"Fox! Mother! You guys all right?"

Gant's voice: "We're still here, and we've still got the

President. We're in the second carriage now."

"Brainiac," Schofield said. "Are you on board?"

"Yeah, I'm in the back of the second car ..."

"Book!" Schofield yelled forward. "Have you figured

out how to drive this thing yet?"

"I think so!"

"Then punch it!"

A moment later, the X-rail train began to move forward

on its tracks, heading toward the oncoming 7th Squadron

soldiers.

"Sir," it was Brainiac's voice. "I have to tell you something.

We lost Love Machine ..."

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Matthew Reilly

"Ah, shit," Schofield said sadly.

"... and we're about to lose Elvis."

"What?" Schofield said, perplexed and horrified at the

same time.

But he didn't get to discuss it further, for at that moment,

three more puncturelike whumps reverberated

through the underground station.

Thwump!

Thwump!

Thwump!

Three rocket-launched grenades sped across the width

of the station, zeroing in on the slow-moving X-rail train,

three thin lines of smoke cutting through the air behind

them, before suddenly--swoop!-swoop!-swoop!--one after

the other they shot in through the shattered windows of the

second X-rail car.

The X-rail car that held the President.

As if on cue, Schofield heard Mother's voice roar over

his earpiece: "Oh, fuck me!"

THE TWIN-ENGINED X-RAIL TRAIN BEGAN TO PICK UP SPEED,

heading for the tunnel.

In the second railcar, Gant couldn't believe what was

happening.

Three grenades!

All in her carriage.

She saw the options in a nanosecond: If we stay, we die

for sure. If we get out, we take our chances with the 7th