The Ashes of Pompeii (Purge of Babylon, Book 5) (37 page)

Drip-drip-drip.

“Take the hotel,” Josh said to them. He wanted to be loud and commanding, but his words came out flat and echo-y to his own ears. He gathered himself and continued. “That’s your job. That’s your only job. Once the hotel falls, the island will follow. Got it?”

Some nodded, but others were too scared to do much besides fumble with their rifles or equipment in an attempt to stop their hands from shaking. Josh didn’t quite understand why he was feeling so calm. Like these men, he’d never (willingly or not) gone into a war zone before, which was what he was about to do right now.

And yet, and yet…

I’m one of the chosen ones. Whatever happens, I’ll be fine. Because it’s fate. Just like Gaby and me. We belong together.

Always. Forever.

“What about them?” one of the men said. He was looking behind them at the wide half-circle entrance that connected the large room they were inside now with the rest of the tunnel.

He couldn’t see them, because they were keeping their distance just as she had ordered them to. He wasn’t quite sure how many were back there, invisible in the darkness beyond the ring of LED lamps spread out across the large room, but there had to be hundreds, maybe more. They had entered the tunnel only after Josh’s people had begun moving through the over-half-mile-long concrete structure.

Kate’s ghouls. Or were they his?

Maybe ours…

Josh pulled the gas mask off and breathed in the stench. It reeked in here, made worse with the creatures nearby. One of them was bad, but so many crowded into one room without ventilation was unbearable. He pushed through the smell and sucked in a large lungful of the stale air anyway.

“Forget about them,” he said, hoping the confidence came through in his voice that time. He couldn’t be sure if he had succeeded, though a couple of the men did look comforted, even if he could only see their eyes behind their gas masks. “They’re only here as a last resort—not that we’ll need them. We’ll get this done, men. Everyone just do your jobs, and this will be over in a few hours.”

He must have been pretty convincing, because that seemed to placate most of the men; there might have been one or two (or a dozen) that weren’t moved. It was less about him and more about being so close to the creatures gathered en masse behind them. They might not have been able to see those black eyes, but their stink…

Josh slipped the gas mask back on and was grateful for the filtered air that flowed to his lungs.

“They’re done,” Sonia said.

Footsteps echoed as two men wearing welding masks, rivers of sweat dripping off their faces and clothes, trudged down the stairs carrying heavy portable equipment, the two cylinders inside
clinking
with every step. They looked exhausted and were leading two more men hauling a thick metal plate between them. The door. Or a part of it that had been cut free. It must have been extremely heavy by the way the men’s eyes were clenched behind their gas masks.

Josh and Sonia stepped aside to let them exit the stairwell. Then he leaned inside and glanced up, not that he could see much of anything even with the portable LED lamps sitting at the very top step.

After Will and Danny closed and then locked the shack, they had sealed it with two layers of brick and mortar. That was why Josh couldn’t see anything now, even with the hole where the door used to be.

“You ready?” Sonia said to someone behind him.

Hank and two others walked over to his position. They were carrying backpacks, and while Hank seemed comfortable with the items, the other two couldn’t hide their nervousness. It almost looked as if they might both bolt at any second.

“Relax,” Hank said. “Nothing’s going to blow up unless I want them to.”

That didn’t make the other two relax at all. Josh stood aside to let the three men go up the steps.

Sonia leaned closer to him. “What’s in those bags?”

“C4,” Josh said.

“Explosives?”

“Uh huh.”

“Should we, uh, move farther away?”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Josh nodded.

He took a couple of steps back, and Sonia did the same. They stopped, looked toward the stairs, then at each other, before taking another half dozen more steps backward.

Around them, the other black-clad figures tried to move as far away from the stairwell as they could, though of course there weren’t a whole lot of places for them to go. The only possible way to retreat further was the adjoining tunnel, and it was already occupied.

*

He knew Travis
and the others had finally landed on the beach when the
pop-pop-pop
of automatic gunfire penetrated the thick walls around him. The gunshots sounded wet and echo-y, like everything else around him at the moment.

He was heartened that the battle seemed to be getting louder, which was a sure sign Travis (if he was even still alive) and the men were pushing inward, just as planned. Josh didn’t know how many guns Lara would have on the beach waiting for them, but he knew she would have everyone she could afford over there right now.

That’s it, Lara. Concentrate on the beach. Just like I want you to.

Where else was he going to land people, after all? Was he going to make them climb up the cliffs? That wasn’t going to work. Besides the fact that his soldiers weren’t really soldiers, they had seen armed guards walking around everywhere. Not to mention in the Tower. They could see every damn thing from that building. Besides, Lara and Danny would remember that Karen had sneaked onto the island that way the first time, and they’d be ready for it.

No. It had to be the beach. It was the most obvious access point to the island. Everyone knew it; there was no point in getting cute. That knowledge, more than anything, was why he was down here at the moment.

Josh had an idea about how things were going up there, but he hadn’t been in contact with Travis in almost twenty minutes. He didn’t really need to know all the details anyway. The men had their orders: Attack the island and take the hotel. What could be more simple than that? Did he really expect them to reach the hotel? Not really. Even without Will, there was still Danny. The guy was an ex-Army Ranger. He would know how to coordinate a proper defense. With enough people and enough rifles, you could do a lot of damage. Even an idiot could fire a gun.

Josh was crouched next to Sonia, with Hank’s large form in front of them. The older man, a former demolitions expert in his past life, had his gas mask perched on top of his head and was wrestling with a thin, bright-yellow plastic rope that snaked all the way around the stairway entrance ten yards in front of him. The detonation cord. The rest of the line was connected to a six-inch-long tube. Josh had expected something more dangerous looking given what was on the other end of the wiring, but apparently all you needed to set off C4 was something that looked like a Roman candle.

Finding Hank among the soldiers had been serendipitous. Locating the C4 had been more troublesome, but with the army depots open to them, all it took was some searching. Fortunately for Josh, he had plenty of manpower to throw into the simple job.

When he was finished, Hank threw a quick look over his shoulder. His bright red beard and hair stood out even in the semidarkness. “Better cover your ears. It’s gonna get real loud in here.”

Josh took out the earplugs Hank had given him earlier and slipped them on. Sonia did likewise. The rest of the men had to make do with pressing their hands over their ears. Some were curling up into a ball on the floor as if that would protect them if Hank misjudged and the ceiling caved in on them.

He glanced up. The entire room was made of concrete, and the faded gray looked surreal against the LED lights. What if the room actually caved in on him? After all, it had been a while since Hank blew something up, and maybe his skills had gotten rusty?

That last thought, more than anything, made Josh shiver slightly.

“You okay?” Sonia said quietly next to him. She had said it just low enough that the others
(hopefully)
couldn’t hear.

Josh nodded back. Then, to Hank in front of him, “Are you sure this is safe?”

“Should be,” Hank said. The man sounded just a bit too glib for Josh’s tastes. “I put just enough to blow through the walls.”

“‘Should be’?” Sonia said.

“You’ve done this before, right?” Josh asked.

“Of course,” Hank said, sounding almost offended. “I used to do this for a living, remember?” He squinted at Josh in the semidarkness, his heavily lined face covered in sweat and grime. “You want me to do this or not? It’s up to you, kid. You’re the boss. You want me to shut this down?”

Josh stared back at him.

I am the boss.

He saw the challenge in Hank’s eyes. It was the same look all the others gave him whenever he told them to do something. They despised the idea that a nineteen-year-old “kid” was leading them, giving orders. They couldn’t stomach that he was chosen and they were not, even though, like him, they had all sold their souls to the ghouls.

But he had done it for Gaby. In order to save her and to ensure their future.

I’m the boss. I’m in control.

“No,” Josh said, staring back at Hank. “Do it.”

“You’re the boss,” Hank said.

You’re damn right I am.

Hank slipped the gas mask back down over his face, while Sonia slid closer until she brushed up against Josh. He didn’t know if she’d sought out the contact or if it was an accident. Not that he minded. He enjoyed the warmth of her closeness.

“Fire in the hole!” Hank shouted, just before there was a soft
click.

Almost instantaneously, there was a loud, crashing
BOOM!

The walls and floor and even the ceiling shook, and continued to shake for what seemed like an eternity. Despite the earplugs, the explosion was earsplitting in the close confines of the tunnel, and he actually flinched even though he knew it was coming. Thank God it was just dark enough and everyone was probably too busy keeping their heads down to notice his response.

Pek-pek-pek
as debris trickled down the stairs in front of him, followed by a thick cloud of dust—red and white from the brick and mortar—that plumed out of the stairwell opening like some kind of smog monster. Josh snapped his eyes shut, expecting to be hit full in the face by the spreading aftermath, but of course he didn’t have to because the gas mask protected him.

He continued to breathe normally, even though men were coughing erratically around him. Sonia had moved even closer, and he fought the urge to wrap one arm around her slim body to keep her safe.

He thought about Gaby instead.

I’m doing this for you. Everything I’ve done, it’s for you. Please be safe up there. If anything happens to you, all of this will be for nothing.

He summoned all the courage he had and stood up in the swirling smoke. “Go!” he shouted. “Get your asses moving now! Move move move!”

To his surprise, they burst into action. Maybe he was more convincing than he gave himself credit for. Or maybe they were too shocked and disoriented and were looking for the first voice to give them orders, and it just so happened to be him. Or maybe, finally, they recognized his authority and were reacting accordingly.

I’m the boss. I’m in control.

They ran past him and up the stairs, boots
crunching
debris as they went. It was a long stream of black-suited figures, one after another, and for what seemed like forever, Josh stood tall and proud and watched them go.

“Take the hotel first!” he shouted after his men (his soldiers!). “Take the hotel, and the island will fall!”

LARA

“It’s okay to
be nervous. When they come, just shoot straight. Don’t be afraid of friendly fire. No one we know will be coming up this path. It’ll just be the bad guys. Okay?”

Stan nodded and tried to smile back at her. She could just barely make him out on the other side, with just the moonlight to keep the both of them from standing completely in darkness. He was much older than her and could have been her father, and she wondered if he found the idea of her attempting to comfort him just as absurd as she did.

She was crouched next to some trees and listening to the sound of boat motors getting closer. It seemed as if they had been coming for hours now. What was taking them so long?

Be careful what you wish for.

It wouldn’t be long now before heavily armed men began rushing up the beach in an attempt to kill her and everyone on the island. It was going to be bloody. Even more so than the last time. And back then she had Will, and there weren’t nearly as many men coming.

Ten boats. At least four men to a boat. At least.

How were they going to kill so many? And could they really go through with this? Could she? The idea of spilling so much blood just to keep the island should have horrified her, but it didn’t. That, more than anything, made her hands tremble so much she had to rub them against her pants just to give them something to do.

This wasn’t what she had envisioned doing with the rest of her life. Not that she had any choice in the matter. The decisions had been made for her. Out there. By Kate.