Day of Doom (25 page)

Sinead  stepped  forward.   “Well, instead of standing here gawking at it, perhaps we should see if it’s open. How’s that for an idea?”

“Now that’s the Sinead we all know

and loathe,” said Dan.

When she whipped around to stare piercingly at him, he smiled and said, “That nicey-nice junk just wasn’t you, Sinead. Be yourself.”

She started to snap something back but then apparently reconsidered. She actually smiled at him. “Good advice.”

Hamilton added, “By that, I hope you don’t mean you’re going back to your evil,

deceitful ways.”

“No, I’m just not going to keep on trying to prove by words that I’m on your side. I’ll let my
 
actions
 
do it.”

She yanked hard on the door’s immense wrought-iron handle and, to everyone’s surprise, it opened easily.

They cautiously peered inside the chamber. It was large and totally dark.

“Should we go in?” asked Natalie in a quavering voice.

“I guess we better,” Amy whispered back. “The others might be in here, only we might not be able to see them.”

“Or they could be hurt, or worse,” added Evan.

They all eased into the room.

When Hamilton, the last one inbecause he was guarding their rear flank,

stepped clear of the door, it slammed shut

and locked.

They all whirled around to look at it.

Amy said accusingly, “Ham, why didyou shut the door?”

“I didn’t. It closed all by itself.”

“Never a good thing,” opined Atticusnervously.   “Doors   closing   bythemselves.”

Suddenly, the lights came on in ablinding flash, causing all of them toshield their eyes with their hands.

“Wow,” said Ian painfully. “Wheredid that come from?”

“Uh, guys?” said Atticus, who was looking upward.

Dan tugged on the door. “It won’t open.”

“Let me try,” said Hamilton.

“Uh,   guys!”   said Atticus  more urgently.

Hamilton tugged on the door with all his strength. Nothing happened.

“Let me help,” said Jake. He and Hamilton pulled hard on the handle.

“Guys!” snapped Atticus.

“What is it, Att?” barked his brother. “We’re busy over here.”

Atticus pointed upward. “Look!”

Everyone slowly looked in that direction.

Suspended in the air, their hands tied above them with chains, were Cheyenne and   Casper.   They  appeared  to  be unconscious.

“What the —” began Dan.

Atticus blurted, “Does anyone else

hear that?”

That
 
was the sound of somethinggurgling.

“What’s that?” exclaimed Natalie assomething touched her foot and shejumped.

Now instead of looking up they alllooked down.

It was water. Lots of it. And it wascoming fast from somewhere.

“The room is filling up,” shouted

Jake.

Indeed it was. The water level wasalready at their calves.

Amy yelled, “Quick, the door, wehave to get it open!”

They ran over to the door andeveryone pulled and tugged and kickedand pushed. The heavy wood didn’tbudge.

“We’re trapped!” yelled Dan.

“We’re going to die!” added a frantic Natalie.

The water was now up to their waists and it was rising fast.

There seemed to be no way out.

Dan and Amy looked at each other.

Dan was thinking,
 
If I had the serum, I could take it and break the door down.

But I don’t and I can’t.

Amy seemed to be reading histhoughts. She inexplicably smiled at him. It was a calming smile.

It seemed to say that they would getout of this, somehow.

But as the water inched up towardtheir chests and Jake put Atticus on hisshoulders   to   keep   him  above   thewaterline, Dan couldn’t see any way out

of this one. As the torrent kept pouring in, they all started to tread water.

Phoenix   was   struggling,   and Hamilton quickly went to his aid, keeping his head above the water.

Amy looked at the others as theyslowly floated up to the ceiling.

This is it. We’re going to die.

Fiske Cahill was fighting like a man thirtyyears younger. He had destroyed three of Vesper One’s men but others kept coming. As he looked around he saw that his groupwas slowly losing the battle.

Nellie had struggled valiantly withone Vesper, but he had pounded her on herinjured shoulder and she was nowfacedown on the floor with her hands zip-cuffed behind her.

Reagan was fighting like a demon,leveling every Vesper that came withinher reach. But Fiske watched helplessly asanother Vesper Tasered the teenagetornado and she instantly dropped to thefloor and out of the fight.

Jonah had been subdued almost

immediately, although he kept trashtalking after his hands were bound behind him until one of the Vespers stuffed a rag in his mouth.

Jonah’s  last  words  before  thishappened were “You wanna ’nother pieceof me, bro?”

And   poor   Ted   was   swingingrandomly at Vespers who surrounded him. They laughed at his awkward attempts tohit them until one drew too close and Ted

connected and knocked him flat on his

butt. Then they quickly subdued him.

Fiske  fought  on,  the  last  man standing. But as a dozen Vespers formed a circle around him he knew it was only a matter of time. He looked behind him at

the behemoth device.

If he could somehow sabotage it . . .

?

He turned, ran straight at a slight gapin the Vespers’ defensive arc, brokethrough by flattening two Vespers withone spin kick, and sprinted flat out at thedevice.

A single shot rang out.

Fiske Cahill gasped and fell to thefloor.

Amy looked frantically around. Theirheads were maybe a foot from the ceiling. She looked at the Wyoming twins. Because of how they were strung up, theirmouths were very nearly underwater. As Cheyenne drew some water into her lungs,she suddenly jerked and awakened. Amywatched as the tall young woman dartedglances around the room and saw herbrother trussed up beside her. Then hergaze fell on Amy and the others.

Amy shouted, “We found you tied uphere. Then the water started pouring in. We’re going to die!”

Cheyenne   struggled   against   herbindings, but to no avail. She started toswing herself sideways. It was hard, beingmostly in the water, but she kept at it. Shefinally managed to hit her brother but then

bounced off. The second time she collided with him, Casper woke up, too.

Cheyenne screamed, “Sandy did this. He’s working with Vesper One. We’re going to die.”

Casper looked frantically around and saw Amy floating near him. Amy wasn’t looking at him. She was staring at the door. The walls were solid stone. The

water was having no effect on them. But the door was wood and, thick though it was, it was not nearly as strong as the walls. And water could always escape through a weaker part of whatever was trying to contain it.

But she needed something to work with.

She turned back to the Wyomings.

“Do you have something that I can try

to open the door with?”

Cheyenne looked at her brother.

“Knife, in a sheath on his left leg.”

Amy took a breath, held it, and dove

under the water.

It was cold and dark but she madeher way over to Casper, felt for his leg,slipped up his pant leg, gripped the knife,and pulled it free from its sheath.

She surfaced.

Dan looked at her. “What are youdoing?”

“Trying to save us,” she called back. She dove back under and kicked hard to

make herself go deeper. She reached the door and thrust the knife in between the

door and the door frame at the point where the lock would be located. She pulled back on the knife handle, trying to jerk

back the lock with it. Her air almost out,

she kicked to the surface.

She looked around. Casper and Cheyenne were now underwater.

“Jake, Evan!”

They looked at her and she pointedfrantically at the Wyomings.

Atticus said, “It’s okay, Jake. I cantread water.”

“Not for much longer,” grumbled Jake. They were almost at the ceiling.

Evan and Jake swam over to the Wyomings and managed to lift their heads out of the water by holding on to the chains and using them as leverage.

Cheyenne and Casper both gasped for air when their heads broke the water’s surface.

Amy dove back down and began

working on the lock again. Twice she managed to wedge the knife into the correct position, and both times she didn’t have the strength to pull it back.

If she went back up to draw in air, she was afraid there would be no “up” to get it. The entire room would be underwater.

This would be her last chance. She

dug the knife in and pulled with all her strength, even planting her feet against the solid wall to increase her leverage. It didn’t work.

Then Amy felt something tugging onthe knife. She looked over and Dan wasnext to her, helping her. Together theypulled with all their might.

Amy could feel the lock slowlysliding back.

WHOOSH!

It was like a mini-tsunami. The door,pushed by tons of water, shot open and thefreed water poured through it.

And so did all of them.

They were hurled pell-mell down thehall. As the water dissipated, they allgroaned and slowly got to their feet,checking for broken bones and missinglimbs.

Amy looked at Dan, who was next to

her.

“Thanks,” she said. “I couldn’t have

done it alone.”

“What little brothers are for. That and making big sisters crazy,” he said, though the terror of almost drowning was still clearly in his features.

Jake pointed back toward the room

where the Wyomings were still dangling.

“What about them?”

“Leave them,” said Amy. “Gives us two fewer jerks we have to fight. I think we’ll have enough to face as it is. Let’s go.”

They all ran off to finish this.