Page 87 of Night Fall (The Quantico Files 1)

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Logan had opened the front door as quietly as he could, but when he heard Alex yell, he moved quickly through the house, his gun drawn. Monty followed behind him.

Then he heard a scream coming from somewhere in the kitchen and found an open door. He hurried down the stairs and was surprised to be greeted by Mike Monroe, who pointed a gun at his chest. Logan started to lower his weapon, but then Alex yelled, “Shoot him!”

Logan pulled the trigger twice, and Mike fell. Logan shifted his gaze to a disguised Walker, who smiled at him. He walked around a large table and stood over a woman tied to it.

“Thank you for being here,” he said. “I’m so happy you’ll get to see the beginning of a war that will kill millions. But don’t worry, angels. I’ll ask the Master to allow you to live. You can reign with us.”

He picked up a dagger and slowly raised it over the terrified woman. “Washed in the blood of the Lamb—and now her own,” he said.

“Put it down!” Logan said.

Walker looked at him as if he couldn’t understand what he was saying. Then he raised his eyes toward the ceiling. “Behold the last sacrifice, Master.”

Before he could bring down the dagger, Logan shot him in the head. Walker looked surprised. As if he couldn’t accept what had happened. Then he fell backward to the floor.

Alex shouted as he turned to look at her. “Logan, he’s got the virus in a syringe. It can’t break. The pathogen is airborne!”

He stepped to the other side of the table and looked around. Then he moved to the area of the basement where the syringe must have rolled. He stood and looked at Alex. “Too late,” he said. He looked around and found a metal bucket, then covered the broken syringe with it.

“You’re all probably safe for the moment.” He pointed at Monty, who was standing near the stairs. “Get them out quick,” he said. “Drive back toward that convenience store. As soon as you have cell service, call Harrison. Tell him I’ve been exposed.”

“But—”

“Just do it, Monty. Okay?”

“Okay.” Monty took a knife out of his pocket and cut the girl free. She pulled the tape off her mouth. “Thank you, thank you,” she said, crying. “I prayed God would send someone to help me and you came.”

Monty took off his jacket and put it over her shoulders as she sat up. “Let’s get going. Come on,” he said to Alex. But she didn’t move.

“Did you hear me?” he shouted. “We’ve got to get out of here while we still have a chance.”

“Monty, go,” Alex said. “It’s too late for me. Please. You may be our only hope for survival. Go.”

“All right, all right,” he said. “Just don’t die.”

“We’ll do our best,” Logan said.

Once Monty and the girl were gone, Logan turned to look at Alex. “What do you mean, it’s too late for you?”

“Walker injected me right before you came downstairs.”

“But you said it’s airborne.”

Alex smiled. “I think sticking it directly into my body works too.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure they got out in time, you know.”

“I know. Monty knows that too. He’ll be careful and tell Harrison when he talks to him.”

Logan sat down on the floor next to Alex’s chair. She hadn’t moved from it. He leaned his back against the wall.

“By the way, I’m pretty sure you’ll find Agnes Walker under the floor somewhere,” she said.

“Did he tell you that?”

“No, but I think his mother was living here when she died, probably at the hands of his father. Adam had to perform the sixth sacrifice in a holy place. If this is the room where his mother died, it probably qualifies in some twisted way.”

“That sounds right.”

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