Page 55 of Running Scared
And with a sudden wrench he skidded to a halt, hauled the door open, and dragged Dean in after him.
They were in the thick of it now, surrounded by fuse boxes and electrical panels, as they followed the almost secret passageway indicated by the plans toward the more militarized buildings in the north of the compound.
“God,” Marcus muttered, hammering one of the electrical panel covers with the flat of his hand.“One good hand grenade and—”
“And everybody will know where to find us,” Dean reminded him.“Where are our two ‘rescuees’?”
Marcus gave a crusty laugh.“I’m guessing they’re heading toward the Jeeps at the northeast entrance, why?”
“Because half of Barrera’s forces should be traveling that way too.”Yes, Dean had told Barrera the northwestentrance, but he figured Barrera would assume he was lying.
“Excellent,” Marcus said.“I gave them weapons.”
Dean wanted to cackle, although a bloodbath was hardly grounds for celebration.
But then, chaos and misdirection would certainly help their cause.As they rounded another corner—this one leading to a slightly larger room, absolutely crammed with electronic servers controlling things like heating and lights and airflow—Dean pulled out a small incendiary device.
“You know what I said about telling them where we are?”he asked as Marcus carefully peered around the corner of the door leading toward the outside buildings.
“Yeah?”Marcus said.“We’ve got five seconds before we’ll be all clear.”
“Good.Because I think one of these will tell them where wewere.”
Marcus grinned over his shoulder at Dean in appreciation.“I like the way you think,” he growled, and keeping one hand on the pressure handle, Dean pulled the pin.
“Okay, then,” Marcus said.“Three, two, one—”
He opened the door, and they both ran through, and Dean turned and tossed the grenade into the electronics and electrical hub on his way out.The door swung shut behind them, and they started running toward the northeastside of the compound, where the planes took off.They were long gone, and looking very purposeful and as though they belonged there, when they heard the muffled explosion, and the lights in the compound flickered and went off.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Marcus said with satisfaction, but he said it for Dean’s ears only, and they continued through the compound.
IT TOOKthem less than ten minutes to find where a small cargo plane stood gassed on the runway, with a cagey-looking Birdie doing a last-minute systems check underneath it.
“Where’s our comrades?”Marcus asked, hitting the release that would lower the back hatch.
“I sent them out the northwest gate,” Birdie said.“Didn’t want them bringing anyone this way while I prepped the plane.”
Marcus grimaced.This was the problem with thinking on the fly.“Bird, we ran into Barrera, and Dean sent him off the scent so he’d assume the Russians were leaving by the northeastgate.Wehave to go northwest when we leave, remember?”
Birdie screwed up a visage that was mostly lines around the eyes and grooves around the mouth.“We can circle around.”
“What about the antiaircraft guns?”Dean asked.“Are those out of commission?”
“It’s gonna be close,” Birdie said.“We want to give them time to shoot the fucking Russians, and we don’t want to be around when the C-4 fulfills its destiny, if you know what I mean.”
Marcus glanced around and saw a few members of the ground crew staring at them as though trying to figure outwhythey would be leaving on a missionright nowand said what Dean was thinking.
“Either way, I think we need to get out of here before they reset all their electronics or start shooting at us on general principle.”
“Roger that,” Birdie said.“Dean, stop double-checking my checks and get your ass on the plane.”
Dean hated to do that—healwaysdouble-checked the checks, and Birdie usually let him get away with it because they’d flown some hairy shit together, but more of the passing soldiers were stopping to stare at the one plane in the compound ready for flight, and they were flat out of time.
He clambered aboard, and Birdie had started the engines and was telling them to belt their asses down before they even pulled the ramp up.
The taxi down the miniscule runway was met with panic fire and a burst of static over the radio as the control tower—or what was left of it after Dean’s grenade to the electrical grid—protested that they had no clearance.
Well, no shit, they had no clearance—they weren’t supposed to be there!
