Killing us.
He said, “You guys look like the real deal. So I can’t believe you’re good with this idiot being your leader. He could lead you right to an early death.”
“Shut up,” snapped Randall. “The only ones dying tonight will be all of you. Especially you and the bitch.”
Robie kept his gaze on the men. “You didn’t answer my question.” He glanced at Randall. “But maybe they already know the answer.”
Randall pointed a finger at him. “I was an ROTC commander in college.”
“Yeah, where I’m sure you killed quite a few kegs of beer,” said Reel.
Blue Man stepped forward. “In the interests of not prolonging whatever this is, how exactly is it going to work?”
Randall focused on him. “It’s a classic thing, really. You run and we hunt you down. We kill you or you kill us. It’s even, right down to the numbers.”
Parry looked around and said, “But there are nine of us and eight of you.”
In answer to this, Randall pulled a pistol from his holster and shot one of the blue scrubs in the head. The man fell where he stood.
The man and woman in the blue scrubs leapt back. The woman started to sob.
“Thanks for reminding me,” said Randall. “Almost missed that one. Never was good at math.” He grinned.
Robie stared down at the body for a moment and then looked at Randall and said, “You mentioned that we’d be armed?”
In answer Randall pointed to a doorway in the wall. “In there. Guns for everyone. You arm up, you get five minutes to run, and then we come and find you. Kill or be killed.”
Reel noted his optics. “But you’ll have the clear advantage with those.”
“Hey, home field advantage, way I see it. But you guys are Feds. You’re supposed to be good.”
“And how many times have you done this thing down here? Enough times that you know the lay of the land like the back of your hand?”
Randall shrugged this off. “Again, home field advantage. Gotta love it.”
“And why are you doing this?” asked Blue Man. He looked at the hardened men behind Randall. “I mean if you’re going to kill us, why go through something this melodramatic?”
Randall patted his rifle. “It’s got a real purpose. It’s honing our skills for when the apocalypse comes.” He pointed upward. “When it hits, you’re going to have all sorts of shit going on up there. And the little people are going to want to get in where we are. And despite all the stuff that Roark Lambert built into his site, some ass-wipes are going to get in. And then it’ll come down to mano a mano. We’ve been training a while now.”
“You mean killing all those enslaved drug workers?” said Reel. “Like that guy?” She looked down at the dead man.
“Hey, it serves a dual purpose. We don’t like to keep them around too long. It’s sort of like culling vermin, you know, that get in your house. And we have to practice our hunting skills, so we always need fresh meat. Win-win.”
Reel continued to stare down at the dead man. “Not sure he’d see it that way.”
“Who gives a shit?” said Randall.
“So the drug op was a way for you to fill your coffers back up?” said Robie. “After you went through your old man’s fortune because you didn’t know what you were doing?”
Randall said defensively, “I’m a good businessman. But people cheated me.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Enough jawing. We need to get going.” He took a key from his pocket and tossed it to one of his men. “Take off the shackles.”
The man handed his rifle to his colleague and came forward to do this.
Randall held up a stopwatch. “Once you’re unshackled, you get five minutes. You can grab the weapons behind that door.” He added with a grin, “And come up with a plan to survive. There’s another door on the far side of the room. You go through there.” He paused as the grin widened. “And then you run like hell.”
Once the chains were off her, Reel rubbed her wrists and said, “Just to be clear, when we kill all of you, we’re home free, right?”
Randall laughed, but Reel’s expression didn’t change. She gazed at each of the other men, lingering on their features, sizing them up. Then she returned to Randall.
“Is that right?”
“I’m not sure you have to worry about that.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, it’s fucking right, okay,” snapped Randall impatiently.
“Thank you,” said Reel. “I’ll be sure to notify your wife of your passing.”
Randall smirked at her. “You’re living in an alternate reality.”
“You have no clue to the reality I live in. But you’re going to find out tonight.”
She walked through the door to get her weapons. Robie and the others followed her.
CHAPTER
70
“Do you speak English?” Blue Man asked the two people in scrubs, as Robie and Reel quickly looked over the weapons stacked on a shelf in the room.
The woman wiped her eyes and nodded. “Yes.”
“What are your names?”
“I am Camilla and he is Mateo.”
“Do you have any experience with guns?”
Camilla shook her head but Mateo said, “I have fired a pistol. My father’s.”
Robie hefted a rifle and looked at Reel, who was sliding a nine-mil into her waistband. She tossed one to him. He automatically checked the action and popped the mag to make sure there was ammo loaded in.
That was tough to do because it was so dark he could barely see the guns.
JC Parry walked over to them and said, “I can shoot either a rifle or a pistol.”
Reel handed him a pistol and an extra mag.
Parry took it and said, “These are some sick sons of bitches.”
“Let’s just focus on turning them into dead sons of bitches.” She glanced over at Lamarre. “What do you want, pistol or rifle?”
When he didn’t answer Reel snapped, “We’ve got maybe thirty seconds. Which one?”
“Pistol, I guess.”
“You ever fired one?”
“No. But I carried one at my old job.”
She quickly showed him what to do.
Robie said, “I’ve been counting clicks. We’ve got sixty seconds.”
Reel handed Blue Man a pistol and an extra mag. Robie passed a pistol to Mateo and shoved another pistol into his waistband.
He looked up as Malloy came over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t believe it’s come to this.”
“I can’t believe a lot of things about this place.”
“If we get out of here alive, I’m going back to New York.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” He handed her a nine-mil and gave her a reassuring smile. “For what it’s worth, Jess and I are pretty good in situations like this.”
She returned his smile. “Something I already know.”
Reel called out, “What’s our ammo count?”
“All told we’ve got a few hundred rounds,” Robie answered.
“Roger that.”
She walked over and eyed the door they had used to enter the room. She hurried over to the shelf, ripped off a metal slat, placed one end on the concrete floor, and jammed the other end against the doorknob.
“Good thinking,” said Blue Man.
“Every second counts. Robie, any lights?”
He had just opened a box and held up two plastic flashlights. When he turned them on they emitted weak streams of light.
“They’re not NVGs but they’re better than nothing.”
Parry said, “Hell, they’ll give them a direct line to shoot us, even without the damn goggles.”
“That’s why we’re going to use them in a different way,” said Robie in a low voice.
Blue Man said, “I can help tactically.”
Robie and Reel stared at him expectantly.