Page 116 of Over the Edge

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand,” he muttered back gamely.

The courage that man had. He was more dead than alive, but he sounded eager to get moving. She couldn’t imagine how desperately he must want to be free after months of debilitating captivity. How many times must he have wondered if this moment would ever come at all?

She pushed all of that aside and shoved her shoulder under his armpit, hoisting him to his feet. It was sickening to feel how little he weighed. She was used to horsing around the other Reapers, all weighing upwards of two hundred pounds at a minimum.

“Sorry,” he breathed as he leaned heavily on her for a moment.

As more explosions made a ton of noise nearby, she spoke into Ken’s ear. “I’m a SEAL, and I can carry you if I need to. Signal me if you get exhausted and need a ride.”

She felt, rather than saw his nod.

And then Trevor had the door open and they were moving down the tunnel swiftly, not worrying about noise. Sounds of gunfire rattled overhead as some or most of Haddad’s men made a last stand. The Spec Ops types must have landed and be taking out any resistance.

Which was both good and bad news. Good because the three of them would meet less opposition. Bad because they might be mistaken for hostiles, themselves.

Not this moment’s problem. Right now, they had to make it out of this tunnel alive. And big chunks of the ceiling were starting to come down. If one of them hit a human, it would be a killing blow. Worse, the smoke was getting thick down here. All three of them coughed while they walked as swiftly as Ken could manage.

Trevor leaped to one side, narrowly dodging a big chunk of rock falling ahead of them. Crud. Carrying most of Ken’s weight like she was, she didn’t have that kind of mobility. She would just have to trust luck and fate not to drop a boulder on her or Ken in the next few seconds.

Trevor sprinted away from them, and she realized they’d nearly reached the ladder. He jogged up the stairs and was raising the hatch carefully as she and Kenny arrived. Bright flickering light poured down the hatchway. Trevor let it drop shut over his head.

Building twelve was on fire above them.

Trevor came back to them, saying urgently, “We’ll have to make a run for it. Cover your head with that feed sack, Ken. Anna will help you through. Building above is twelve by twelve, exit will be directly at your back when you hit the top of the ladder.”

“Got it,” Kenny replied.

“Up the ladder,” she breathed to Kenny, who was still operating without night optical devices. She guided his hands to the wooden side poles and then positioned herself behind him. He felt for the first rung with his foot.

Found the second rung.

As he climbed, she spooned his body with hers, reaching around him to hold the ladder. Kenny knew the score and pressed his body right up against the rungs as he climbed, helping her to spot him as he climbed. He got about halfway up and paused. She heard him breathing hard.

She leaned in against him, supporting him while he gathered himself. After a moment he pushed back lightly against her, indicating he was ready to go again. They continued the endless, laborious climb.

Her head bumped the hatch. She felt searing heat seeping around the edges of the closed trap door, and the smoke was choking thick, here.

“Deep breath, and then go,” she called into Kenny’s ear above the roaring of the fire they were about to emerge into.

She threw open the hatch and was horrified by the fully engulfed structure falling apart around them. Ken hesitated and she shoved him up and out of the hole onto his hands and knees. She tore the NOD’s up onto her helmet and grabbed Ken around the waist, dragging him upright.

They ran for the door, but they took a single step before a big beam from the ceiling crashed down diagonally in front of their only way out of here.

“Cover Kenny!” Trevor shouted. Kenny dropped to the floor and she fell on top of him, using her body as a shield to protect him.

A deafening explosion slammed into her like a physical blow, and her eardrums felt like they’d both ruptured. She looked up from the floor and saw Trevor slumped on the floor across the room from a large, new, hole in the wall. He’d throw a grenade at it and blown the wall up.

A new shower of sparks and timber was cascading down, and the whole building was groaning now, threatening to collapse.

As bad as she wanted to run to Trevor and pull him to his feet, to get the man she loved out of here and to safety, Ken was her first responsibility. Dammit, this was exactly the dilemma Trevor had warned her about.

Ken first. Then she would come back for Trevor.

She jumped up and pulled Ken to his feet, sheltering his head and shoulders as best she could as they ran across the space. She had no time to clear the perimeter outside. They would die if they stayed in the building any longer.

Ken spun out weakly to the right, scanning for hostiles, pistol wobbling in front of him, but by God in a firing position. She did the same but to the left.

She turned to head back into the storeroom, but a giant burst of flames and a vicious surge of heat drove her back.

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