“Good. Then I need you to do the following. First, get a tranquilizer gun, locate your boss, and shoot him. If he—meaning his puppet master Michelle—remains active, we’ll lose everything.”
I paused to let him digest what I had said. “Then,” I continued, “bring his unconscious body to the hangar, along with the dart gun and a tranquilizer reversing agent. Get him inside whichever zip-craft is parked closest to the southernmost entrance and wait for me. When I get there, I’ll revive him, and he and I can have an illuminating conversation. I need you to see that I’m telling the truth. Make sure the ship doesn’t report that you’re inside. Or that I am once I join you.”
“If Kussmann is unconscious, how will I get to the hangar without arousing suspicion?”
“You’re about to become instrumental to the survival of the human race, Nick. I’m sure you’ll find a way.”
I heard a heavy sigh on the other end of the connection. “Roger that, mate.”
“Good. And just in case I get to the hangar before you do, convey an order right now to the zip-craft nearest the southern entrance. Tell it that if anyone—anyone—stands near it and says ‘Open Says Me’ it should let them in, and not report their presence.”
“Open Says Me, Jason? Really?”
“You heard me.”
“Okay,” said the captain. “Consider it done.”
“You won’t regret this, Nick, I promise you.”
With that, I ended the connection, and then glanced at Tessa for the first time since the call had begun. She was gazing at me with an awestruck expression. “Damn, Jason. Well done. I knew there was a reason I loved you so much.”
“I thought it was my bulging biceps.”
“Bulging biceps?” she repeated with a broad grin. “Wow. Your imagination is even more potent than I thought.”
48
I opened the now unguarded door to the stairwell and stepped inside the landing. Tessa soon joined me, and we padded down the stairs as quietly as cats. We opened the door to the first subterranean level just a crack and strained our enhanced hearing to the limits, but heard nothing.
The coast was clear.
I flung open the door and stepped onto the floor, and at that instant two things happened simultaneously. I heard the blast of a gun—and Tessa dove in front of me.
I took two lightning-fast steps and launched myself into the air as the shooter tried again, and while his shot missed me by inches, I was able to return fire in midair, letting my nanites control the aiming. My slug plowed a hole through the shooter’s forehead and he was dead before he hit the ground. I cursed, realizing I had inadvertently shot to kill, but I didn’t have time to feel the guilt I’d experience later.
I tried to make sense of what happened and realized that one member of the stairwell team hadn’t bought Nick’s story and had disobeyed orders. Instead of leaving with his comrades, he had been lying in wait fifteen feet away, betting his career that something fishy was going on.
Tessa was lying on her back on the floor, blood streaming from a hole in her gut.
“Tessa?” I cried out as I knelt beside her, trying not to become hysterical or start tearing up, which would have only made things worse. “You’ll be okay. Just relax. Everything’s going to be okay,” I repeated. “Your nanites are already starting the healing process.”
Even now I knew that they were restricting her blood loss, but not before she had spilled a significant amount. And the gaping wound in her stomach would take much longer to mend.
“The shooter is down,” I continued. “I’m going to see if he has field bandages on him. Once you’re patched up, I’ll carry you to the hangar. With my new strength, you’ll be light as a feather.”
“No!” she whispered, cringing in pain. “Get a belt . . . and go. You said . . . getting to a ship . . . is critical. I won’t let you . . . slow . . . for me.”
“No way I’m leaving you like this,” I said.
I rushed over to the fallen shooter and located bandages in one compartment of his combat vest, which I used to quickly wrap Tessa’s stomach. I then lifted her from the ground, cradling her as carefully as I could in my arms, and made my way to what Swarm memory told me were sleeping quarters for new recruits nearby, praying they’d be abandoned as all hands joined in on the manhunt.
I closed my eyes in relief when I entered. The room was abandoned, just as I had hoped.
I lowered Tessa gently onto a bed and then opened three footlockers at the base of three beds, finding the third one nearly empty. I slid under the bed so I could reach the side of this footlocker hidden from view, and stabbed several holes through it with a confiscated combat knife. Satisfied that these holes would let in plenty of air, I returned to Tessa and carefully lowered her inside, waiting until she drew in her arms and legs so she would fit. This completed, I placed a gun in her right hand, which now rested on her thigh.
She looked up at me as I prepared to close the lid and managed a weak smile. “Sorry to be . . . such a burden.”
“Well, you did just take a bullet for me,” I said softly, “So I can give you a pass this one time.”
Her smiled broadened. “Very gracious of you,” she whispered through the pain, already sounding better than she had just minutes before.
I forced myself to remain strong and unemotional, which wasn’t easy. “Just close your eyes,” I told her, barely able to get these words out without choking up. “Relax. Think happy thoughts. You’ll heal up in no time, and I’ll have you to safety before you even miss me.”
“I know you will, Jason,” she whispered, gazing at me with loving eyes. “I know you will.”
49
I was so filled with panic, so determined to finish my mission so I could rescue Tessa, that my theft of a personal force shield and my trip to the southernmost door of the hangar was a blur.
I had to knock out three soldiers to get the belt, and numerous others after that, but I was so consumed by worry for Tessa I had no time to worry about myself, which oddly made me that much more effective.