Page 60 of Tracking the Alpha
Phoenix suddenly appeared, looking concerned. “Captain, we have a problem.”
“What now?” Barrett held in an exasperated sigh.
“Bombs, sir.”
“What?” He couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Looks like bundles of C4 with timers. They’ve been placed at every level just under the ledges hidden by the cables. They must have activated while I was on the first level looking for something to cut the cables with.”
Barrett raked his hair. “How long do we have?”
“Just under eight minutes.”
“Fuck. Everyone move out,” he bellowed. “Follow Phoenix up the shaft.”
“What about Takhi?” Freya asked.
The tiger made a noise and padded for the wedged open door.
“If she can’t climb, help her.”
Seeing his people clustering around the exit, he worried they’d not have enough time to exit if they had to go single file.
“Wedge open the elevator doors,” he commanded. “We can climb up through there as well.”
It proved easier than expected to pry them apart, and soon everyone, even those he didn’t know, were climbing up the shafts, with those in the elevator using the cable. Dangerous if the cab suddenly came zipping back up.
“How much time left?” Barrett called out.
“Four minutes and still ticking,” Phoenix replied.
As the last of the rescues entered the shafts, Barrett followed, waiting his turn to climb the metal rungs. He glanced down.
“What’s up, Captain?” Freya asked, having hung back with him.
“I wanna see who’s on sublevel six.” Wendell had said only Dr. Levy and the general had access.
“We have only minutes to get out,” Freya reminded
“And assuming ten seconds per floor at most, I need only one of those minutes.”
As if Phoenix heard him—and maybe he did—he hollered from the top of the shaft. “I might be able to stop the bombs by cutting off the power going to them. I found an electrical panel. Don’t panic if it goes dark.”
Barrett eyed Freya. “Get everyone outside the walls just in case it doesn’t work.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be hopefully only a few minutes behind.”
“I should come with you,” Freya insisted. She’d always been one of the braver, more loyal soldiers in his section.
“No.”
“But, Captain?—”
“That’s an order.”
“Fuck your orders. I’m not a soldier anymore,” Freya sassed.
