Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (33 page)

“Walk back to the others.” Sanchez grabbed the flashlight from Lucy and grinned as he saw
Logan
do as he had instructed. “I now want all of you up against the kitchen door.”

The three obeyed. Once they were in position next to the door, Sanchez smirked. “I’m sorry I can’t stay and enjoy the party, but I’ve
gotta
get going. And remember—if I hear someone following me, anyone at all, I’ll shoot Lucy without hesitation.”

Handing the flashlight back to Lucy, he opened the door. Then, with the three men watching his every move, he pushed Lucy into the hallway. A moment later, the door slammed shut, causing the party room to sink into complete darkness.

“Damn!”
Logan
kicked the kitchen door in frustration. “What the hell are we going to do now?”

“We need to find the keys to the handcuffs first,” Muscles suggested. “We can’t do anything with these things on our hands.”

“What if Sanchez has the keys?” Jet asked.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t.” Muscles bent down and fiddled around in the guard’s pockets. It was almost pitch black in the room, the only light coming from the rising moon as it shone through the windows. A minute later, he yelled out, “I’ve found them.”

As soon as the three were free of their handcuffs, they began searching for a flashlight. Using the light from the cigarette lighter that Jet had found on the guard, they searched the room, only to realize that the other guard had a small flashlight in his pocket.

Logan
switched it on and breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. It works. Now, let’s see where Sanchez went.” He opened the door and stepped out. He shined the light both ways, unsure of which direction to head in.

“We’ll have to be careful. He’ll kill her if we get too close,” Jet reminded
Logan
.

“If you think I’m going to sit here and do nothing—”
Logan
said.

“I’m not saying to do nothing,” Jet interrupted. “But we don’t even know which direction he went.”

Muscles sighed. “He’s right. Sanchez could’ve headed left or right, and then headed up or down. Even if we split up we might miss him.”

“Not really. It isn’t as though he’d head down the set of stairs on the right as they are torn in half,”
Logan
said.

“He might not know that they’re like that,” Jet argued.

“Well, I’m going to head up the stairs,”
Logan
said. “Because that’s what I’d do if I were …” He paused and turned off his flashlight. “Someone’s coming.” He closed the door and the three of them waited for the footsteps to pass.

But they didn’t. They stopped right outside the door.
Logan
gave the flashlight to Jet and whispered to him, “Switch it on when the door opens.” He then took a firm hold on the pistol that he had picked up from the guard by the door and waited.

~*~*~

Kenneth didn’t know how long it had taken, but with his arms aching, he smiled as he caught sight of the shore.

The teens,
who
had drifted off to sleep, awoke as the dinghy scraped against rocks. Molly sat up and glanced around in the darkness. “How will we be able to tell where we are?”

“We can’t tell. Not until daylight.” Kenneth stood up and stretched his arms. “I don’t know about you, but I feel as though I could sleep for a week.” He took hold of one of the backpacks and climbed off the dinghy and onto the rocks. “Come on, you two, get moving.”

The teens followed Kenneth as he switched on his flashlight and swung it around. Grass, scrub, and a few trees were all that he could see. “The town probably isn’t far off, but I say we camp here. We’ll find someplace flat, start a fire, and get some sleep.”

“Why the fire?”
Molly asked.

“It’s going to be very cold soon. Can’t you feel how much the weather has changed in the last hour?” Kenneth said.

“Well, now that you mention it,” Molly admitted, “it does seem a bit chilly. I guess my mind has been on other things.”

“Your parents?”
Kenneth asked as he scouted out a good place to lay out the blankets.

Molly nodded. “I just want to find out what’s happened to them.”

“I’ll have a talk with the general tomorrow and see what he says,” Kenneth said. “Now, how about you two get some kindling while I get some branches? We want the fire to last till morning so we’ll need quite a bit.”

It didn’t take that long before some wood had been gathered. It took a while longer to get the fire roaring away, but once it was, the teens each grabbed a blanket and lay down beside the warmth of the fire and closed their eyes.

Kenneth gazed up at the sky and saw that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was going to be a cold night. He looked toward the pile of wood that they had gathered so far. It was probably enough to last them through the night, but he decided to get some more to be sure.

Leaving the teens, he headed into the trees and started picking up the driest branches that he could find. He had been doing this for just a few minutes when, out of the darkness, a pair of yellow eyes appeared.

Logan
didn’t have long to wait. A few moments later, the handle turned and the door swung open. A person stepped in, also carrying a flashlight. As it lit up
Logan
, Jet switched on his.

As both parties saw each other, they lowered their weapons. Xavier shook with relief. “You had me scared for a moment there.” He looked around. “Where’s Baldy?”

“Dead,” Jet muttered.
“As is Sabrina.
Where’s Peter?”

“He’s also dead. That’s actually what caused the power to go out the first time. A bunch of guys ambushed Peter. He didn’t stand a chance. I managed to hide until they left, and then I used the explosives to blow the generator up before coming up here.”

“Did you see anyone on the stairs as you came up?”
Logan
asked.

“No, why?”
Xavier said.

“Sanchez escaped with Lucy,” Muscles said.

Xavier shook his head in wonder. “What the hell happened?”

Muscles quickly explained the situation. As he reached the part about leaving the party room five minutes earlier, Xavier frowned.

“You know, when I was climbing up the stairs, I thought I heard a noise above me,” Xavier said.

“You think it was Sanchez?”
Logan
asked, a gleam appearing in his eyes.

Xavier hesitated. “I don’t know. It could have just been my imagination.”

“Maybe he went to the penthouse suite,” Jet said.

“Hey, that could be right. I know we searched it, but we could have missed something.”
Logan
cast a mischievous eye at Muscles. “
Wanna
see if he’s there?”

“I guess so. It’s as good a chance as any.” Muscles led the way as they walked to the stairwell and up the stairs.

All was silent and dark as they approached the penthouse suite.
Logan
shined the flashlight at the door and inwardly gasped. It was open. “Hey, look at that.” He touched the lock. “It’s been forced open.”

“It does look like he’s been here,” Muscles admitted. “I can’t see that anyone else would’ve come past here in the time that we’ve been gone. The question is, is he still here?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Xavier said.

“Let’s take this nice and slow,”
Logan
said. “If Sanchez is here, there’s all probability that Lucy is here. And if she is, he’ll use her as a hostage. So let’s be as quiet as possible.”

Logan
pressed the top of his flashlight up against his chest so that it only radiated a dim light before he stepped into the room. The others followed.

It was completely dark in the room.
Logan
listened, but all was silent. Leaving Muscles to guard the door, the others slowly went to the other rooms.

No one appeared to be in the suite. Searching once more with their flashlights,
Logan
noticed something was different as he entered the office. He frowned.

Jet noticed. “What’s wrong?”

Logan
shined the flashlight around. “I’m not sure.” The beam of the light lit up the bookshelves, the model train display, and the desk. It wasn’t until he shone it above the desk that he paused. He called to the others. “Hey! Look what I’ve found.”

The others were soon in the office and gazing up at the wall. The map, the one that showed the
San Francisco
Bay
area, had been torn off the wall. The edges, as well as the area north of
Golden Gate
Bridge
, remained.

“Why would someone take a map?” Jet said.

“It had to be Sanchez,” Muscles said. “No one else has had time to come in here since we were last here.”

“But why a map?”
Logan
studied the small corner bits that were still in place. They were held there by pins. “He could have taken these pins out and then taken the whole map, but he didn’t.”

“He was probably in too much of a hurry.” Jet said.

“Or maybe he got what he wanted,”
Logan
said.
“Of course.
He must have a helicopter on the roof.”

Muscles frowned and then grinned. “Sanchez probably got the map so he could see where he was going.” He glanced at his watch. “But if he did, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t already taken off.”

“Then we don’t have any time to waste.”
Logan
hurried to the door, flung it open, and raced down the hallway.

“Do you think he’s on the roof?” Xavier asked Muscles.

Muscles nodded. “If I were him, that’s where I would’ve gone.”

“That’s good enough for me then. Come on.
Logan
can’t tackle Sanchez alone.” Xavier hurried out of the room.

The two groups soon became one again as they raced up the two flights of stairs as they headed for the roof. All the time,
Logan
kept an ear open, hoping that he wouldn’t hear a helicopter starting up.

He reached the stairs that led to the roof and slowed down to catch his breath as he climbed up them. He was thankful that he hadn’t yet heard a helicopter, but he also wondered if they’d been mistaken.

Suddenly, the roar of a helicopter cut through the area. “No!”
Logan
pushed himself even harder as he reached the door to the roof. He turned the handle but it didn’t budge. He pushed against it, but this didn’t help either.

“It won’t open!”
Logan
cried out.

“Let me try.” Muscles pushed against it with all his strength, but it still didn’t budge. Taking his pistol, he shot the handle off. He pushed again, but failed again.

“Something must be jammed against the door,” Xavier stated.

“Let’s all try pushing it,”
Logan
said,
urgency in his voice.
“Three, two, one!”

The door didn’t stand a chance. The force tore the door off its hinges and sent everyone falling onto the ground.

Stumbling to his
feet,
Logan
watched in horror as a police helicopter, its searchlight lighting up the darkness, rose up from the helipad on the roof and gained height.