“You ever fired one?”
“No. But I carried one at my old job.”
She quickly showed him what to do.
Robie said, “I’ve been counting clicks. We’ve got sixty seconds.”
Reel handed Blue Man a pistol and an extra mag. Robie passed a pistol to Mateo and shoved another pistol into his waistband.
He looked up as Malloy came over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t believe it’s come to this.”
“I can’t believe a lot of things about this place.”
“If we get out of here alive, I’m going back to New York.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” He handed her a nine-mil and gave her a reassuring smile. “For what it’s worth, Jess and I are pretty good in situations like this.”
She returned his smile. “Something I already know.”
Reel called out, “What’s our ammo count?”
“All told we’ve got a few hundred rounds,” Robie answered.
“Roger that.”
She walked over and eyed the door they had used to enter the room. She hurried over to the shelf, ripped off a metal slat, placed one end on the concrete floor, and jammed the other end against the doorknob.
“Good thinking,” said Blue Man.
“Every second counts. Robie, any lights?”
He had just opened a box and held up two plastic flashlights. When he turned them on they emitted weak streams of light.
“They’re not NVGs but they’re better than nothing.”
Parry said, “Hell, they’ll give them a direct line to shoot us, even without the damn goggles.”
“That’s why we’re going to use them in a different way,” said Robie in a low voice.
Blue Man said, “I can help tactically.”
Robie and Reel stared at him expectantly.
Blue Man continued, “Years ago, because of my professional status and due to some national security issues, I toured the silo and was even given some blueprints of the facility, which I kept in my cabin. I studied them when I realized that this place might be the center of what was going on.” He pointed toward the far door. “Once we leave this room there’s a long corridor to the right. The second door on the left will take us through a series of other doors and passages, to what was the maintenance wing of the complex. That’s also where crew quarters are located. It’s a rabbit’s warren of spaces, which might give us some tactical cover.”
Reel looked at Robie. “And also the possibility of ambush.”
“Right.” He looked at Blue Man.
“Ready?” said Reel. “Let’s go.”
She took point, opened the door, and slipped through it. The others followed in single file, with Robie bringing up the rear.
“They’re gonna kill us all,” said Lamarre. “You know that.”
Robie, who was directly behind him, gripped his shoulder and said, “Just so you know, they killed Beverly Drango. Shot her and threw her body in a Dumpster in an alley in Denver.”
Lamarre whirled around. “They…they killed Bev.”
“Yeah. So start thinking about how you’re going to kill them back.”
Reel called out, “Robie, you want to test this thing?”
“Just thinking the same thing.”
Parry looked at Blue Man, who was walking beside him.
“What are they talking about, Roger?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I would rather have them with me right now than an entire Army brigade.”
“Works for me.”
Robie dropped back after telling Lamarre to keep going.
Malloy went with him even though he shook his head and pointed for her to continue on with the others.
“No,” she said firmly.
He used the flashlight to briefly illuminate where they had come from. Then he balanced the light on a broken piece of brick on the wall so that it was about eye height, with the weak beam pointed in the direction of where they had come.
He stepped back and took aim with his pistol after motioning to Malloy to get down on her knees.
Reel and Robie were eye to eye.
Robie helped Malloy to her feet.
“She’s hit,” he said.
“What the hell happened?” she said. “Did you take some of them out?”
Robie shook his head. “We’re screwed.”