Page 60 of V-Day
She obeyed her own command and turned and sprinted for the trees, threading her arms back into the pack as she ran.
Chloe cleared the network cache of footprints, disconnected and shoved her laptop in her pack.
Cristián picked up Chloe’s hand and hauled her to her feet. “Come on.” His tone was urgent.
“I’ll beat you there,” Chloe told him and took off.
“No contest,” Cristián said softly, from behind her. “No one beats cheetahs.”
Just before they reached the trees, Chloe heard a low, deep whistling sound, coming from behind her. She whirled.
“No, get under cover!” Parris shouted, from among the trees.
Chloe stumbled up the slope and half a dozen hands emerged to haul her in through the first of the trees, then even farther.
Cristián grabbed her other wrist and hauled, until she was mashed up against his chest and held still.
The explosion was shockingly loud and Chloe clapped her hands to her ears as they throbbed. Sparks flittered in her mind. The ground rumbled beneath them. Then the shock wave hit. Hot air pummeled her back, and she turned her head into Cristián’s chest. His arms tightened.
Her ears rang. Everything was muffled.
Someone slapped her shoulder. Chloe lifted her head. Locke pointed up the slope with sharp jabbing motions. She nodded. Parris was already moving up the slope, her big pack making her look like a deformed monster from behind.
The other men had spread out and were climbing the slope with deep, forward-leaning striding motions, their assault rifles cradled in one arm, their fingers on the trigger guards.
No one was taking their time.
Chloe hauled herself up the hill, back-sliding and breathing hard.
The next two hours passed in a haze of exhaustion and effort. She didn’t know where she pulled the energy from, although every time she thought of the pissed Insurrectos behind them, she found the will to keep moving once more.
She didn’t know where they were going. After a while they stopped climbing up and moved sideways, instead. Sometime later, she realized Locke was pacing her on her right, and Cristián was on her left. Every time she stumbled, one of them caught her arm, held her up and pushed her forward.
Cristián peeled her pack from her shoulders and carried it in his hand. The removal of the weight gave her another small burst of energy.
It was mid-afternoon when they stopped for a short moment under the heavy foliage of a banyan tree. They stood between knee-high, foot-thick roots crawling along the ground in radiating lines around the massive trunk. Cicadas clicked and whirred.
“No, don’t sit down,” Parris said, as Chloe lowered herself onto one the conveniently seat-high roots. “Stay on your feet,” she added, in a less sharp tone. “Odesky?”
Odesky came over to where Chloe stood uncertainly. Her legs were shaking.
“Lean against the trunk,” he said kindly. “Just don’t take the weight off your feet or you won’t get up again.” He pulled a pack out of his thigh pocket and opened it, selected a flat package, then closed and shoved the pack back into the pocket. He tore the end off the clear package and withdrew a syringe. “Shoulder,” he said, holding it up.
“What is it?”
“It’ll keep you going a bit longer.” He grinned. “You will crashbigtime, when you do stop.”
“I know it,” Chloe said feelingly.
Locke held out a canteen over Odesky’s shoulder. “Here.”
She drank from it. It was the same salty mint liquid as before. She drank more of it than she thought she wanted and it helped.
Cristián came over to where she was leaning against the trunk, stepping over the roots with his long legs. He held out a handful of jerky and she grimaced. She didn’t like jerky at the best of times and she was getting sick of it now.
Cristián grinned and balanced a chocolate chip cookie on top.
“Nowyou’re talking,” she breathed and took the food. She left the cookie for last, as a reward for eating the protein, which she knew she needed.
