“Right now out of here is good enough for me.” Towing him along unresisting behind me, I ran into the hall and scanned it hurriedly for Saul. Even in the midst of it, the running and the alarms, I marveled at the solid feel of his flesh within my grip. For so long he had been a ghost that I could barely believe he was real and true to the touch.
“Smirnoff, haul ass!”
I whipped my head around to see Saul waving frantically by the same door through which we’d made our entrance, not using my real name, which I appreciated. Seeing that I’d spotted him, he wasted no time in beginning his escape. Obviously devil take the hindmost wasn’t a phrase he took lightly. Following his lead, I ran toward the door. Lukas had been keeping up without difficulty until he saw our destination. He didn’t stop or try to pull away, but he definitely slowed. Considering what lay below, I didn’t blame him. “It’s all right,” I reassured him quickly as I fumbled at my belt. “We’re just passing through that medical torture chamber downstairs. We’re not sticking around.”
It was hard to tell with only the fast glance I could allow him and his strangely unemotional fa?ade, but I thought he seemed relieved. My attention was jerked away as I saw two men, the ever-present khaki brigade, enter the other end of the hall. Shoving Lukas before me when we reached the door to the basement, I whirled and tossed the grenade I’d taken from my belt. It was a standard smoke one. I had tear gas as well, but I was hesitant to use it so close to the other kids. As heavy white smoke billowed and blocked the men from view, there was the sharp bark of guns being fired. I didn’t wait to see how good their aim was in whiteout conditions. Diving through the door after Lukas, I slammed it behind me and rushed headlong down the stairs. I caught up with him halfway down and took a handful of his pajama top to hurry him along.
He didn’t complain or protest. He barely reacted at all, as obedient as a programmed robot. I didn’t like it. It was unnatural, wrong, but as with other things, I didn’t have the luxury of thinking about it right then. Staying alive and getting my brother out of this place made up my entire to-do list at the moment. Hitting the bottom, I saw Saul facing us several feet away. He had double handfuls of the more serious firepower: tear gas and stun grenades. “Move your shit,” he snapped.
My shit and I complied with alacrity and took Lukas past the medical equipment and computers and out into the night air. The sound of hissing gas and ear-ringing explosions followed us as Saul heaved his grenades up the stairwell. I knew he would be pushing us out of the way from behind like a fullback if we didn’t get going, and I charged up the concrete stairs with Lukas like a runaway train. I didn’t even break stride with the first man I shot. The second one, unfortunately, didn’t go down quite as easily.
Halfway across the pseudo-hospital room I’d once again drawn my gun. I’d known from the beginning that I would do what was necessary to free Lukas, no matter the cost. But I had thought I might hesitate when it came to pulling the trigger, if only for a second. I had thought I would pause before sending a bullet into a warm, living son of Man.
I didn’t.
The first one went down with lead in the stomach. That’s the way you were taught to shoot a person. Aim for the biggest target; aim for the torso. The police learned that, as did the rest of us who had less-admirable excuses for our violence. Whatever my justifications, I was already firing again as the first man hit the ground and his gun went flying. His partner, beefy and broad shouldered, was quicker on his feet. He twisted and dodged for cover toward the corner of the building. I was lucky to get one in his thigh and luckier that the bullet he squeezed off in our direction was only an evil buzz past my ear.
Giving Lukas a hard shove, I commanded, “Run!” As before, he did as he was told, without question. From behind us came another detonation, a much larger one than before. Saul had brought the genuine explosives into play. No one would be coming after us through the basement, because by now it was nothing more than a smoking ruin.