Kitabı oku: «The Queen of the Two Moons», sayfa 4

***

When Lizzy and Marco were getting out of the car the next morning, Irene came out of the center with Yana following her.

“Good morning,” Yana said, smiling. “Good to see you two in flesh²³⁴.” “Hey, Yana,” Marco said. “Good to see you too.”

“I believe you’ve been briefed about today’s test,” Irene said, looking at Lizzy.

“Should I change my name to Tonya²³⁵?” she asked, changing Tony Stark’s name to Tonya.

No one got the joke. Either Lizzy wasn’t nerdy²³⁶ enough to pull it off²³⁷ or it was the wrong crowd.

She decided it was both.

“No need for any name changing,” Yana said, seemingly puzzled. “We’ll just see if Albert’s idea actually works.”

“I hope it does,” Irene said. “Shall we?”

They all proceeded to the house, where Albert and his team (Shawna and Latosha) were as excited as little children before a birthday party. A special enclosed space was arranged for the test to make sure that no one got hurt. There was a transparent glass container with some vials containing viruses (not lethal²³⁸ ones). Lizzy was to wear a protective suit with electronic sensors for recording her activity and the impact the glove was going to make around her, if any. She would also be wearing a special mask to protect her eyes. Shawna and Latosha were going to operate two video cameras to record the test.

Albert explained the test step by step to the present company. Lizzy was going to go through the process of connecting to the glove and activating it. Then she was supposed to go inside and place her gloved hand on the container for a minute. In theory, this would be enough to destroy the harmless viruses inside the vials. If that worked well, they would move to the second part of the test – the same procedure with dangerous viruses. The success of the test depended on the level of the destruction and the time spent on the entire process.

“Sounds pretty straightforward,” Lizzy said, after the briefing. “When are we going to start?” “As soon as you’re ready to put on the suit,” Albert said.

“I’m ready. Show me where the fitting room is around here.”

***

The feeling of being connected to the glove was exhilarating²³⁹. It felt as if Lizzy’s hand acquired an enhancement²⁴⁰. The tiny needles inside tickled²⁴¹ the skin of her hand ever so gently, causing no pain whatsoever.

“Breathe,” Albert said. “Your blood pressure is a bit too high.” “I think I feel high,” Lizzy said.

“That’s the chemical solution to prepare your blood to shoot with the impulse that penetrates both the glass and the virus. It might make you feel a bit loopy. Nothing to worry about. You just need to breathe, calm down and focus on your job.”

“All right, it’s good that I won’t need to drive and shoot at the same time, because it feels like I had a doobie²⁴² or something.”

“You’ll get used to it… but, just in case²⁴³, don’t smoke anything while wearing it.” “I’m not a smoker.”

“Good, now let’s get inside and see what this baby can do.”

Lizzy went inside the transparent cube with the vials. Apart from her, there was only Shawna and Latosha in the room. Irene, Yana, and Marco were watching the test in the room upstairs on a big TV set.

“So, I’m just placing my hand on the container?” she asked, without taking her eyes off the glove. “Right,” Albert said. “No need to gawk²⁴⁴ at the glove all the time. It’s not going anywhere.” “Oh, ok.”

“It’ll take thirty seconds or so for the glove to finish the job.” “Here we go.”

She approached the container and put her gloved hand on the top. She felt a bit of heat coming from the glove and looked at Albert, who was monitoring the situation on the computer screens. She wanted to ask whether the heat was normal but decided not to do that. He’ll tell me if he sees something, she thought.

“Should I count?” she asked instead. “If you want to.”

“One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…”

“Or don’t,” Albert said with a smile. “We have a clock here.”

Apart from the slightly increasing heat and prickling, things didn’t seem to change much. “How am I doing so far?” Lizzy asked.

“You’re doing great,” Albert’s eyes were on the monitors. “Now, take your hand off.” She did and the heat started to subside²⁴⁵, along with the prickling sensation.

“You can leave the cube.”

“Is that it?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “Yes.”

“Did it work?” Lizzy asked when she was out.

“I think it did.” Albert was still staring at the screen. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I am,” he said with a smile, taking his eyes off the monitor. “It’s been destroyed.” Lizzy thought that she heard some cheering from upstairs and broke into a smile²⁴⁶. “How are you feeling, Lizzy?” came Irene’s voice through a speaker.

“Good,” she said, looking at Albert. “Shall we proceed with the real one?” “If you feel up to it,” he said.

***

On the way back to the cottage, Lizzy was exhausted. She was quietly listening to Marco going over the test results with a smile on her face. It was funny to see how excited he was about the success of the experiment.

“You looked like a real Man of Steel with that glove back there,” he said. “You mean Iron Man?” she asked him jokingly.

“I’ll tell you what. You’re both and more,” he said and kissed her on the lips. “You’re Super Lizzy.”

Chapter 3: Lizzy’s Diary, Part 2 (Present Time)

Once again, I want to record things that have happened to me while they are still fresh in my memory. I feel that I am about to embark on another life-changing journey, and I want to remember every detail of it.

After a month of training with the glove, I felt both comfortable and confident using it. To speed up the process, Marco and I temporarily sealed up²⁴⁷ our cottage and moved to one of the houses near the center. The technology worked and it was tweaked²⁴⁸ and improved with every test they took. Even though Marco enjoyed his cinematographic cultural course, he was getting a bit restless, and Albert found some work for him as well. The glove needed to be recharged after each “mission” in order not to take unnecessary energy from me, which could result in extreme fatigue²⁴⁹. Albert designed a portable recharger to be carried around. Its only drawback²⁵⁰ was its weight; it was too heavy for me. Marco was the man for the job, which he accepted gladly.

Apart from the glove testing, we spent a bit of time with Irene and Yana discussing the next step in the mission, which was the actual virus elimination. I remember one sunny October afternoon when we were all sitting outside, enjoying our short break and hot cocoa. I wondered if there were any updates from “the other camp²⁵¹.”

“What have the bad boys been doing all this time?” I asked Irene and Yana.

“Working on new variants while we’ve been busy on our glove,” Irene said. “People get sick around the world and we’re picking up some disturbing tendences.”

“The good thing is,” Yana said, “with the new little toy Albert invented, theoretically, it does not matter how many variants they’ll produce. The glove’s antiviral impulse isn’t specific to one virus or protein on its surface, so it will destroy new viruses that emerge straight away and will overcome the development of any resistance. Potentially, this technology could make all vaccines obsolete.”

“Sounds lethal” Marco said, gently sipping his hot beverage.

“It is,” Irene said. “So, we want you, Lizzy, to be extra careful while using the glove because we don’t entirely understand whether there are any negative implications on the carrier. Needless to say²⁵², we don’t want it end up in the wrong hands either.”

“It’s been all right so far,” I said. “Apart from slight headaches, I’ve been ok. Besides, Shawna and Latosha are recording every step I take – even when I go the bathroom.”

The lack of privacy was something I had to get used to, but I felt that this little sacrifice was for the right reasons. In a way, it even made me feel protected.

“It’s their job,” Yana said, smiling. “Have you been sleeping well?”

I had mentioned my insomnia to the research team to make sure they had the whole picture of my health situation. I omitted²⁵³ the fact of seeing the man in a black kimono… who stopped showing up in my dreams since I started working with the glove.

“I have. Sleeping like a baby,” I said and winked at Marco.

Then Irene showed us the plan that showed the places of virus production Marco and I were going to visit and the details of how we were going to get in. In order not to draw any attention to our mission, it had been decided that it would only be the two of us handling the viruses. We would get some assistance from the Committee’s people on the ground and Albert’s team online.

There were three centers altogether.

I felt both nervous and excited about it. The fact that the Committee trusted us meant a lot to me, but I was not really sure that I was up for the job. Marco seemed to be confident that we could do it and, gradually, his confidence sifted through my uneasiness into my mind, making me feel less worried.

Three centers to go.

According to our “traveling itinerary²⁵⁴” (that’s what Marco called it), our first target was a few hundred kilometers from us. In fact, the place was not too far away from the cave in the Adirondack Mountains where my father had stepped from the green, pulsating ball of light. Marco and I drove there in the minivan that was equipped with all the necessary gear and supplies that we could possibly need during the trip, including a powerful police-edition taser²⁵⁵ and a gun.

The hub²⁵⁶ was situated in a rural area and was hidden behind a green fence with a line of densely planted pine trees behind it along the perimeter. It was impossible to see what was behind the wall, but we were not too worried about that because, thanks to our contact inside, we had a detailed plan of the area, down to the combination of the lock to the room we needed to get into and while Albert and his team would hack specific cameras inside.

We arrived two hours before we were supposed to meet with our contact, Consuela, and parked a few hundred meters away from the entrance point and the security cameras. That gave us enough time to prepare the glove and go over the details of what we were going to do inside and have a light snack. It was getting dark. When we were finishing our sandwiches, a female silhouette appeared in the rear-view mirror with a flashlight. She flicked it three times. That was our contact and the signal for us to disembark²⁵⁷.

Consuela, a pleasant-looking woman in her thirties, was still wearing her working overalls with an embroidered²⁵⁸ with the words “Paws of Love,” the name of the veterinarian research center and our place of business for tonight. She led us to the back door through a patch of pine trees.

“Everyone has gone home,” she said. “I haven’t activated the alarm system yet. I’m supposed to throw away the trash in the large garbage bin outside at the end of each working day.”

“Will the security get suspicious?” Marco asked.

“Nah, I’ve been doing it for some time now for them to get used to it. I would go out for a minute and come back. With each trip, I would just make that minute longer. Speaking of which, we must hurry up.”

We quickened our pace and soon were at the back door. “What about the cameras?” I asked her.

“They won’t you see in this,” she said, led us to a large shopping cart, which looked like a large shopping cart.

We climbed in it and Consuela covered us with a canvas cloth.

“Here we go,” we heard her say as we felt the movement of the cart.

After a few minutes of rattling²⁵⁹ and a short elevator trip, we stopped, and she let us out. We were in the maintenance room²⁶⁰ in the basement of the center.

“Do you know how much time you have?” she asked us.

“Three minutes,” Marco said, remembering the instructions we had received prior to the mission, and pressed a button on the electronic watch Albert had given him, activating the stopwatch. “The cameras in the area will be showing empty corridors for a minute or so, right?”

“That’s what Albert told me, and I hope he’s right.”

Consuela opened the door of the room, peeked outside, and gave a thumbs up. It did not take us a long time – a few turns down the grey-walled corridor – to get to the door we were looking for. We made sure that our faces were not exposed to the camera above the door just in case. The door had a code lock. Marco punched the digits 19260474, and it clicked opened. We quickly entered and shut the door behind us.

We found ourselves in a dimly lit lab²⁶¹ with two rows of animal cages along the walls. At the other end of the room, there was a big glass container, the size of a refrigerator, with vials in it. It looked remarkably similar to the one I was practicing with back in the center. As we were carefully walking toward the container, I noticed that the cages were not empty. There were different breeds of dogs in them. The animals kept quiet, watching us tiptoeing²⁶² through the room. There was no time to feel anything for the poor creatures that were locked in this dark place. I only hoped that they were not treated badly.

I activated the glove and felt the familiar sensation of the nano needles inside doing their job extracting the power of my blood. I focused on what I was about to do and placed my hand on the container. Thanks to the training, I did not have to use the Mississippi count to know how much time I had. I could feel the impulses of the device and could tell when it was over. My heart was racing, but my brain stayed cool.

“You’re slaying²⁶³ the dragon, so keep it together²⁶⁴ until the job’s done,” Albert told me, using his strange metaphors every time I got carried away²⁶⁵ during the practice. Surprisingly, it worked for me when I imagined myself standing in front of a flamethrowing beast. It made me calmer and focused.

I nodded to Marco, who was surveying the place and keeping his eye on²⁶⁶ the door. The dragon was slain. It took a minute and a half, and it was time to leave. I bid a silent farewell to all those creatures in the cages, and we stepped out of the lab.

We returned to the maintenance room where Consuela, already changed into her civilian jeans and hoodie, was waiting for us.

“Change of plans, guys,” she said. “The next security shift came earlier than usual. I won’t be able to push that cart back without them noticing it. So, I’m going to distract them with some ‘Consuela chit- chat’ and you try to leave the place the same way we entered.”

“What about the security cameras?” Marco asked.

“They usually check the recording the next day, provided there were no incidents, but I won’t be returning to work tomorrow to find that out,” she said, smiling. “The job’s done, right?”

We both nodded that it was.

“So, let’s just get the heck out of here nice and easy, all right?”

We could not agree more. We moved out and proceeded to the elevator.

“You take the stairs,” Consuela said, showing us the fire escape door. “They haven’t installed the cameras in there yet. Once you are on Level One, after my signal, turn right and you’ll see the door with the exit sign in about ten meters. That’s your door. You know the code, right?”

We did.

“What’s the signal?” Marco asked.

“I’ll knock three times on the door. Let’s go,” she said and pressed the elevator button.

We took the stairs and waited for her signal to come out when we got to Level One. We heard muffled sounds of a brief conversation and then the three knocks. Marco slowly opened the door and saw Consuela’s back. She was blocking the view of the security guard so that he would not be able to see us behind her. As we stepped in the corridor and started to walk to the exit, the fire escape door shut with a loud squeak²⁶⁷ behind us.

“What was that?” we heard a male voice say. We started running.

“The wind got inside through the ventilation system,” Consuela said, still blocking the view. “Let me go and check.”

“I’ll do it,” the male said, and we heard some rattling noises of a keyring.

“Come on, Bruce.” Consuela was not giving up. “Just stay in your office and I’ll let you know if anything’s up.”

Marco punched the code, and the door opened. In a matter of a second, we were out.

Two centers to go.

The next place on the itinerary was in the center of the city, a three-hour drive from our research and training facility. The lab with viruses was on the top floor of a skyscraper that belonged to one of Dolion’s powerful allies, an extremely rich oil tycoon. It was much trickier to get in, but we also had a person inside, who was in fact one of the security officers. We had to wait for his shift to do the job, which was three days away.

Marco suggested a short vacation. Just the two of us, away from missions and the lab equipment. I thought it was a great idea. After confirming with the team that it was okay, we drove to the ocean shore to get some salt air in our lungs. It felt great to be out, not to think about “work” for a few days. The work part wasn’t hard, but not thinking about our past was much harder. Marco and I had agreed not to bring up²⁶⁸ the subject of our lost partners unless it was absolutely necessary.

When we were facing death in the other world, we’d made a pact to be together no matter what. We’d felt like we owed it to Beth and Mark. They’d sacrificed their lives so that we could live. Human nature, however, is a complicated thing to control. Your heart and your mind do not get along well all the time. I could not help but start comparing subconsciously²⁶⁹ when I looked at Marco. It was amazing how these parallel realities could create identical and yet different people. I wondered if he felt the same way but did my best not to ask him. So, it was a bit of a surprise when Marco asked me if I ever thought about the other Marco.

“I don’t mean to sound jealous or anything, but I sometimes think about Beth. I kind of feel guilty every time I do that, though.”

We were sitting on an old bench a few meters away from the ocean. A couple of seagulls were circling in the sky waiting for someone to throw a piece of bread at them. There were not too many people around on the pier because it was a weekday afternoon, and it was a bit windy. I snuggled up to Marco to keep warm but had to sit straight to look at him in the eyes.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty,” I said. “You too?”

“Yes, I also think about him… sometimes. It’s just we agreed not to…”

“Right. I didn’t want to talk about it, but this place reminded me of the time when we didn’t have to run or eliminate things, you know?”

“Totally,” I said and took his hand in mine. “We should talk about these things.” “You think so?” He looked straight in my eyes.

“I do. There should be nothing unsaid between us. We’re in constant danger as it is, and we might not have too much time, you know?”

“So, truth all the way? Cross your heart?” He stretched his pinky out for a pinky-swear. “I cross my heart.” I smiled and shook his pinky with mine.

“You know what? I just remembered what we used to say as kids when we piggy swore.” “You mean pinky swore?”

“Make friends, make friends. Never ever break friends. If you do, you’ll catch the flu, and that will be the end of you!”²⁷⁰

“Wow, that’s brutal.”

“Kind of scary if you think about it. I just realized it.”

“Do you, um, want to talk about Lizzy?” I asked him after a short pause.

Marco looked at his watch thoughtfully. “Maybe not now,” he said. “I just wanted to know how you’d feel about it if I did.”

“I’d be fine with that.” I snuggled up back to him.

***

I would love to write more about our holiday. It was wonderful, but short. We had a couple great meals (sea food, white wine, and some long-forgotten mind-blowing²⁷¹ desserts) and nice walks along the shore. I loved every second of it.

We were back to “the office” on Saturday morning and we were incredibly happy to know that Consuela wasn’t in any danger. The people from Paws of Love attributed²⁷² the virus’s death to some unforeseen natural causes. Go glove!²⁷³

“Are you guys afraid of heights?” Albert asked us during the next mission’s briefing. “I am,” Marco said and looked at me. “You?”

“I’m not really,” I said, but then remembered that Mark hadn’t been. We had some crazy trips, involving extreme hiking and roller coasters. I suddenly felt a nag²⁷⁴ to ask whether Beth was but thought better of it. “Why do you ask?” I asked Albert.

“Well, I’m afraid that we’ll have to drop you off on the next destination. I hope you noticed that I used ‘on’ instead of ‘at.’”

We did.

“A helicopter ride, before you ask anything,” he continued. “It’ll be fun. You’ll see the night city from above.”

So, we were slowly turning from superheroes into Mission Impossible characters. I made a mental note to ask Marco who played Tom Cruise’s role in his world.

Meanwhile, Albert was getting into details on how we were going to fly to the place and “fast-rope”²⁷⁵ out of the aircraft onto the roof of a skyscraper. James, the contact guy, was going to disable the security cameras on the roof and unlock the doors. We would have only one shot at this, and James was to leave with us after we were done. To make sure we would not fall off the rope, Albert showed us a few videos of the technique of using a thick rope to slide out of the helicopter. He showed us the heat- resistant gloves we would use to protect our hands from the heat of friction²⁷⁶ while descending.

As I was listening to what we were about to do, it occurred to me that it all sounded as natural as planning to go shopping – something I used to discuss with my girlfriends only six months ago. The thought distracted me for a minute, and it made me miss the life I had… but surprisingly not that much. Was there a way back to what I used to be? Would it be possible to return to the old ways, knowing what I knew now?

“Lizzy?” Albert’s question returned me to the parallel-universe reality. “Do you have any questions?”

“I’m good,” I said and looked at Marco. “Do you have any questions?”

“It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Hop on the chopper, wait until the pilot gives the signal, jump on the roof, do the thing and leave,” he said.

“We’re both good,” I said to Albert and looked at Marco again. “Do you also say ‘chopper’ on Two Moons?”

“No, Albert just used it. We call helicopters whirligigs,” Marco said and made whirling²⁷⁷ gestures with his index finger accompanied by pretty realistic helicopter sounds.

“Whatever you guys call it, you should be on one in two hours, so let’s get ready,” Albert said.

The car ride to the heliport took an hour. There, we found a private small black helicopter, ready to take off. There were two people – the pilot and the assistant. When I got inside, I realized that I had never been in a helicopter before. I suddenly felt a bit nervous, took Marco’s hand and held it tightly. Marco nodded and smiled.

“I’m sure she knows what she’s doing,” he said, pointing to the pilot, who did not identify herself and was quiet during the flight.

The assistant went through the descending procedure with us to make sure we knew the drill, which we had not actually done before. When he finished, we saw the skyscraper and heard the pilot’s signal to get ready. I started to hum the theme soundtrack from Mission Impossible subconsciously and could not get rid of it. I was sure that no one could hear it, because of the noise of the helicopter’s engine. It became a real earworm²⁷⁸, but it kept my spirits up²⁷⁹.

The assistant opened the side door, checked the thick rope that was attached to a bar on the fuselage of the helicopter. He found it satisfactory²⁸⁰ and with the palm of his hand upwards he gave us a sign to get on our feet and get ready to slide. I went first. The helicopter was hovering²⁸¹ a few meters above the roof, and I clearly saw the H sign in the middle of the big circle on the roof. The sliding took a few seconds, but it took my breath away. It was both scary and exciting. I was humming my song even louder when I stood on the roof, holding the rope for Marco. He joined me momentarily. We gave a thumbs up to the assistant and started to run towards the exit door where we saw James waiting for us. As we entered the building, James shut the door, muffling the sound of the helicopter flying away. He was wearing his black security uniform, complete with a walkie-talkie²⁸² and a handgun in a holster²⁸³ on his belt.

“We’ve got three minutes,” he said. “No talk beyond this point.”

We nodded and followed him downstairs. The lab was two floors down. As we were running down, I put the glove on and activated it. I was getting better and faster at it.

Our target was the in middle of the floor and it had no windows that we could use to get inside. So we had to take corridors with motion detectors to get to the door of the lab, open it and do the job. It was good because I could not imagine either Marco nor myself climbing the wall and making holes in the glass with some laser cutters.

James could not deactivate the detectors, but he was the chief security officer who would get the notification of the breach first. That would give us a few minutes, which was enough, before the rest of the security team would arrive to check the reason for the alert. James was going to stall²⁸⁴ them for another minute or two.

We ran down the corridor, taking multiple turns, and got to the lab in two minutes. James gave us a sign to hurry up and went to check if there was any commotion²⁸⁵. Marco punched the code for the door lock that James had sent to the Committee two days ago. It didn’t work. Marco punched it in again.

Nothing.

“James,” I whispered loudly. “What?” We heard him say.

“The code doesn’t work,” Marco said, and we saw James’s head from around the corner.

“Well that’s the only one I got,” he said and thought for a second. “Shoot it and get ready for some action.”

Marco took out his handgun, Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan, and pointed at the lock.

“Now, I know why they gave me this. You could hunt a big game²⁸⁶ with it,” Marco said. “Just point and shoot.”

I turned away from the door, and he fired at the lock. The shot rang out across the whole floor. If it went unnoticed, then the security team consisted of seriously deaf people. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, and we heard the alarm right away. James’s walkie-talkie lit up.

“I heard that too,” James was yelling to his soon-to-be-ex colleagues. “I’m on it. Stay put²⁸⁷ and wait for my orders.”

The lock was shattered, but it took a bit of pushing to get in the lab. At last, I was in and saw the already familiar glass container, but…

“There are no vials!” I yelled.

“What do you mean?” Marco came from behind.

“I mean, there are no freaking vials!” I was getting nervous.

“Let’s check around,” Marco said and started to look for any other glass containers. I joined him.

The lab was quite small, about twenty square meters. There were two long tables with microscopes, flasks, test tube racks, beakers, and other stuff I did not know the names of. The glass container that was supposed to hold the vials was in the far-right corner next to two white storage units with transparent sliding glass doors. There was a fume hood²⁸⁸ in the left corner.

“Where could they hide…” As I was trying to think, my eyes were wandering around the lab, and I saw safety storage cabinets that usually are built to store hazardous²⁸⁹ materials. Viruses are very hazardous, right? “Marco, you’ll need to shoot again.”

Marco turned around and saw what I was pointing to. We heard some noises outside.

“Go to the other side. I’ll check here!” We heard James’s voice, and he appeared in the doorway. “What’s taking you so long?” he hissed through his teeth.

“Just another minute, James.” Marco said and pointed his gun at the cabinets.

James disappeared to deal with the situation in the corridor when Marco sent another bullet from his powerful gun into yet another lock. He didn’t get it at first and had to shoot two more times until the doors of the cabinet swung open, and we saw a neat row of full vials on the shelves.

“Let’s do it!” he yelled. “I’ll go and help James.”

I touched the vials with my hand and felt the glove doing its magic. There were more vials on the shelves than I expected, and I had to repeat the process two more times to make sure that I covered all the inventory. Meanwhile, I heard some yelling and shots outside. Marco ran in with some blood on his face.

“You got shot?!” I shrieked.

“Just a scratch. We gotta leave now!”

I couldn’t agree more. “I’m done. Let’s go.”

We left the lab. James was holding off the security on the left side of the corridor. There were some yelling and bullets flying from around the corner, but James made sure that his former comrades did not see who was shooting at them.

“Go to the other side. There’s another door up to the roof,” he said and shot blindly around the corner.

We took the right corridor, which was still empty and ran for the door. I punched the code on my phone to let the pilot know that we were on our way. According to the plan, the helicopter was going to land and pick us up from the roof. No more ropes.

We got to the door.

“James! Come on!” Marco yelled.

James appeared from around the corner and ran towards us. As he was approaching the door, one of the security men appeared from around the same corner and started to shoot. James tripped and fell.

Marco caught him, dragged²⁹⁰ him in and I sealed the door from inside. “He got me,” James said, out of breath.

“Can you walk?” Marco asked.

“I think I can,” he said and tried to stand up.

“Let’s move then,” Marco said and placed James’s hand around his neck. I saw a big dark stain around a bullet hole in James’s back between his shoulder blades²⁹¹.

We took the stairs and dragged James one floor up when we heard some loud bullet pelting the door we had just used to enter the stairwell and sealed from inside. James was getting weaker, and Marco had to carry him on his back.

“The door won’t hold long,” James said, exhausted.

“One more set of stairs and we’re there,” I said. “Marco, give me your gun!” Marco reached for his holster and took out his 480 Ruger.