Matthew Reilly - Area 7

off every single particle.

And then in wondrous slow motion, the whole misty

cloud began to fall, first at its extremities, then in its center,

down over the pit.

LIKE SLOW-FALLING SNOW, THE Sinovirus PARTICLES descended.

Since it had detonated above the floor line of the hangar,

the yellow mist hit the prisoners standing on the rim first.

Their reaction was as sudden as it was violent.

Most of them doubled over where they stood, started

hacking, vomiting. Some fell to their knees, dropping their

flaming torches, others lapsed instantly into involuntary fits.

Within a minute, all but two were on the floor, writhing

in agony, screaming as their insides began to liquefy.

Seth Grimshaw was one of the two.

Along with Goliath, he stood unaffected by the falling

yellow mist, while everyone around him lay dying.

Although only they and the now-dead Gunther Botha

knew it, Grimshaw and Goliath had been the original test

subjects for the vaccine against the Sinovirus the previous

afternoon.

Unlike the others, they had Kevin's vaccine coursing

through their veins.

They were immune.

THE YELLOW MIST FELL THROUGH THE DARKNESS.

It was now about fifteen feet above the lowered elevator

platform--five feet above the rim--and still falling steadily.

Alone on the eastern side of the pit, Libby Gant had

seen the grenade detonate, had seen the spectacular aerosol

explosion high above the pit. She didn't have to be a rocket

scientist to guess what it was.

A biological agent.

area 7 355

The Sinovirus.

Move!

Gant spun. She was standing right next to the eastern

wall of the pit, ten feet below the rim. The rim itself was now

empty, all the inmates having moved around to the northern

side earlier.

Gant didn't waste a second.

She was still wearing her full dress uniform, which

meant she had no gas-mask--so she definitely didn't want to

be here when the Sinovirus descended into the pit.

The particles were fourteen feet off the floor.

And falling ...

Gant pushed one of the AWACS plane's big black tires

up against the concrete wall, jumped up onto it, hauled herself

out of the ten-foot-deep pit.

She rolled up onto the hangar's floor, careful to stay

low, beneath the layer of descending Sinovirus particles.

She saw the hangar's internal building about twenty

yards away from her, saw the slanted observation windows

of its upper level.

The control room, she thought. Caesar's command

center.

Staying low but moving fast, Gant hurried for the doorway

at the base of the internal building.

THE YELLOW HAZE CONTINUED TO FALL.

Having consumed the prisoners on the northern edge of

the pit, its particles now dipped below the rim, drifting down

into the pit itself.

Schofield looked anxiously about himself.

In the pandemonium of the grenade blast and the ensuing

wails of the dying prisoners--as they fell, they dropped

their torches, plunging the pit into even thicker darkness--

he had lost sight of Jerome Harper.

After the blast, Harper had dashed off into the darkened

forest of the AWACS wreckage, disappearing. Schofield

didn't like the idea of him lurking somewhere in the area.

But right now, he had other things to worry about.

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Matthew Reilly

The mist was now inside the pit--nine feet off the

floor--and still falling.

He looked over at the President and Juliet.

Like him, they were still wearing their stolen 7th

Squadron uniforms--complete with ERG-6 half-face gas masks wrapped around their necks.

"Captain! Your gas mask! Put it on!" the President

yelled, pulling on his own mask. "If you breathe the virus

into your lungs directly, it'll kill you in seconds! With the

mask on, it's a lot slower!"

Schofield lifted his mask over his face.

Juliet, however, yanked her mask up and over her head

and threw it over to Mother, just back from her fight with

Webster. Unlike the other three, Mother was still dressed in

her maskless full dress uniform.

"But what about you--?" she said.

Juliet indicated her Eurasian features. "Asian blood, remember.

It won't hurt me. But it'll kill you if you don't put

that on!"

"Thanks!" Mother said as she clamped the mask over

her nose and mouth.

"Quickly!" Schofield said. "This way!"

Gas mask on, he charged into the darkened maze of

wreckage, heading for the northeastern corner, for the mini

elevator parked there.

The others took off after him, racing into the darkness.

After several seconds of running, Schofield came to the

mini-elevator, lying flush against the floor in the corner of

the pit.

A flaming torch lay on it. One of the dying prisoners up

on the rim must have dropped it into the pit when the virus

had struck him down.

Schofield snatched it up and turned to see the President

and Mother arrive at his side.

It was only then that any of them noticed.

No Juliet.

Area 7 357

juliet janson lay sprawled on the ground back near

the AWACS's fuselage.

Just as she had been about to charge into the maze after

Schofield and the others, a strong hand had appeared from

completely out of nowhere and grabbed her ankle, causing

her to trip and fall.

The hand belonged to Boa McConnell, lying spread

eagled on the floor, still dazed from Mother's tackle earlier,

but alert enough to recognize one of his enemies.

Now, he held on to Juliet's ankle, refusing to let go.

Juliet struggled.

Boa extracted a long K-Bar knife from his boot, raised

it. Juliet's eyes went wide as he made to plunge the knife

into her ankle ...

Blam! McConnell's head exploded like a burst balloon,

shot from somewhere above them. He flopped to the floor,

dead.

Juliet scrambled away from the body. She looked upward,

searching the darkness for the source of the gunshot.

She found it in the shape of a flaming torch over on the

southern side of the pit, being waved from side to side, accompanied by a voice that called: "Janson! Agent Janson!"

Juliet squinted to see the owner of the torch.

In the flickering glow of the torch's flames, she could

just make out the man holding it--a man in 7th Squadron

clothing brandishing a nickel-plated pistol in his spare hand.

Book II.

"janson! where are you?" schofield said into his radio mike, as he waited impatiently on the detachable mini elevator.

Book II's voice answered him. "Scarecrow, it's Book.

I've got Janson. You get out of here."

"Thanks, Book. Fox, you still alive?"

No reply.

Schofield's whole body froze.

And then: "I'm here, Scarecrow."

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Matthew Reilly

He started breathing again. "Where are you?"

"I'm inside the building at the eastern end of the hangar.

Get the President out of here. Don't worry about me."

"All right ..." Schofield said. "Listen, I have to get to

Area 8. The bad guys have taken Kevin there. I'm going to

take the President with me. Rendezvous with us there when

you--oh, shit!"

"What is it?"

"The Football. It's still up in the hangar somewhere.

Grimshaw had it."

"Leave that to me," Gant said. "You just get the President

out of here. I'll meet you at Area 8 as soon as I can."

"Thanks," Schofield said. "And Fox ..."

"Yeah?"

"You be careful."

There was a pause at the other end. "You too, Scarecrow"

And with that, Schofield pressed a button and the mini